Duel Masters: Victory Drive
by Shuriken16
Summary: Spinoff series to Duel Masters: Kaijudo Generation; Follow Sixteen year old Kyle Taylor and his friends as they band together to make their way towards the 2020 D-Fighters Tournament in order to duel their Idols, the World Renowned Team Kaijudo Generation, while at the same time stop a hidden evil from rising from its centuries of slumber...
1. Break the Chains: Roar Tatsurion!

_The Year is 2020; the world of Duel Masters has grown exponentially since it's revival in 2011, thanks to the actions of the Duel Clash Association. And so it continues to grow, with thousands of new duelist born every day. Since the last D-Fighters tournament in 2016, Wizards of the coast has not only brought back the rights to their product, but also has joined alongside the DCA to spread the game out in more ways than one. Soon, old favorites were reprinted, joined by a new cast of creatures and cards to give the next generation of duelist a fresh new start in the duel world. And this story tells about the adventure of a young sixteen year old… And his dream of joining alongside his idols as one of the next Kaijudo Masters._

* * *

Chapter 1: Break the Chain: Roar Tatsurion!

* * *

_[New York City; September 7__th__, 2020]_

* * *

"Kyle, wake up! Do you want to be late on your first day of school?" A young woman called out from the bottom of the staircase. The brown-haired girl received no reply, annoying her. "This is the last time I'm offering to drive this stupid idiot to school; KYLE!"

* * *

Upstairs, the Sixteen-year old Kyle Taylor slept soundly, obviously ignoring his sister's calls for him.

"Sorry dude, but I got a Shield Blast: Tornado Flame to banish your Terrasaur…" Kyle mumbled in his sleep. "Bolshack Dragon, Double Break his shields…."

Two loud booms suddenly crashed on his door, waking the teen up.

"Whoa Whoa Bolshack, kinda overkill don't you-." he looked around and realized he was in his room. "Where's my glove… or the K-Terminal…; or my deck for that matter?"

"KYLE! Move your butt, you're late for school!"

Kyle let out a yawn. "What are you talking about? School doesn't start until Tuesday."

"It is Tuesday you dolt." His sister spoke through the door. "I'll be waiting in the car, just hurry up and get changed so I can drop you off."

Kyle sighed. "Gotcha." He pulled the covers off and got out of the bed. He saw the silver deck case on his nightstand in addition to the red and white glove that sat next to it.

"Hey Axel, you awake?" he asked his deck case.

"_Yeah, I have been for a while." _the case replied, having the red light blink every time it spoke.

Kyle ran his hand in his short brown hair. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"_Because Allison was trying to; what chance did I have if she couldn't?"_ it replied.

Kyle opened his closet and thought about what Axel said. "You got a point there." He then pulled out a Gray T-shirt and a red and white plaid shirt, throwing a pair of black jeans over his arm as well.

"_By the way, there's something that's been bugging me a bit." _Axel spoke.

"And what might that be?"

"_My Body…"_ it replied. "_Why haven't you selected a Deck Avatar for me to represent?"_

"Because…" Kyle slid his head through the Shirt, followed by his arms. "I want it to be special."

"_But you've been playing this game for nearly four years Kyle; most duelists have a card that represents their deck."_

"Well, I have Armored Dragons and Beast Kin in my deck. Kinda hard to choose don't you think? Besides, I don't wanna copy the Terra Knight's Deck Avatar. That's disrespecting him."

"_So in that case that crosses out both Fighter Dual Fang and Super Dragon Machine Dolzark…" _

"Don't worry about it." Kyle said with an upbeat attitude. "I just want to pick the right one, just for you. Something that's… I don't know, the best of both worlds." He grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "Come on, I promise I'll pick something out later at TCG Towers… Deal…?"

The deck case kept quiet. _"Deal…"_ it whispered.

"Awesome, I knew I could count on you not being mad." Kyle said as he took the case and strapped it onto his wrist. He threw his glove in his bag as well and took off.

* * *

Arriving at Pace High School, Kyle jumped out of the Blue Toyota and stared at the school. He took a deep breath, and sighed. "Two more years of this and I'll be free."

"Hey Kyle, I have class later on so I won't be able to pick you up." Allison called out.

"Don't worry; I'm meeting my friends at TCG Tower after school. Tell Mom I'll be home around 7, if not earlier."

"Got it;" She waved him goodbye, driving off afterward.

"_You're sister's nice when she's not trying to beat you senseless with something."_ Axel told his partner.

"Yeah, that's the Fire Civilization for you…" Kyle said honestly. He kept walking, mixing in with the crowd of students that came from the same direction.

"Hey Kyle!" a voice came from behind him, making the teen turn back.

Running up to him was another Caucasian teen, slightly shorter than he was, wearing glasses a blue shirt and jeans. In his arm was a lighter blue and silver Tablet-like device that he was clutching on for dear life by the looks of it.

"Hey Maxi, what's up dude?" he greeted the teen, happy to see him.

"Did you see the DCA's news bulletin yet?"

"I haven't why?"

Maxi pulled out the tablet from under his arm and showed him what he found.

"2020 D-Fighters League's official date has been set for November 22nd to December 8th. All A-Rank teams wanting to take part in this event, apply below… Sweet, we're gonna go through with this right?"

"Dude, of course we are; look who the special guests are going to be at the tournament."

Kyle continued to read the page. "Special Spectators include the 2016 champions… Kaijudo Generation! Are you serious?"

"Entirely; rumor has it that they're representing the DCA's Team this year like the Kaijudo Monarchs did for their match back in 2016."

"Which means… that we have a shot of dueling against our idols?" Kyle realized, about to faint from the excitement. "Holy crud that's insane!"

"But there's only one problem…" Maxi pointed out.

Kyle looked at his friend.

"There are only two of us…"

"Point being…?"

"The D-Fighters Tourney requires a set team of five members."

Kyle's world crashed after hearing that.

"You're telling me this now? Why didn't you mention it sooner?"

"Because dude, it's three months from now; we should be able to get three teammates by then."

Kyle sighed. "Well in that case that's three months of work cut out for us then."

The school bell rang signaling the start of class. The two teens looked up at the bell and then turned back to each other.

"Let's worry about it later. For now, let's get going." Maxi suggested.

The duo then walked off to their first class deciding to put their team recruitment plans on hold for the time being.

Another teenager overhearing them closed her locker and watched them walk away. She had raven black hair and a skull hairpin in her hair. She wore a black and white striped shirt and a black vest over it, along with skinny jeans and heeled boots. She smiled with her dark eyes set on Kyle.

"Looks like I'm going to have some fun after class…" She said. "How about it, Jester…?"

A purple data stream traveled up her arm from her deck case, materializing into a small purple puppet-like creature. It had a disfigured face with an additional mouth on its forehead, in addition to having two thin arms with knife-like nails protruding from the inside. It let out a dark little giggle, making his partner smirk.

"Glad you agree my little friend." She began to walk to her class as well.

* * *

Lunch time rolled around with the students getting the opportunity to eat and socialize with their old friends from the previous grades, and their new ones from their new classes. Kyle and Maxi sat at an empty table, still trying to think of people they can recruit for the upcoming tournament. Didn't take them long to realize that every potential candidate that they came up with, were either already part of a team, or had no interest in the tournament, satisfied with their A-Rank title.

"Well this is going nowhere…" Kyle stated disappointed.

"Ditto…" Maxi agreed. "Hey Tech, come up with anything?"

A blue stream of data traveled out of Maxi's deck case and materialized into a small Cyber-like creature, three small tentacles sprouting from its head. It had two telescope-like eyes which the red lenses focused on the two teens in dismay.

"Tech's scan comes up short." The cyber creature spoke in third person. "Tech's scans show that 50% of the population in the school is part of teams, while the other 49.5% refuse to join due to desiring to stay at their current level.

"So in other words, it's 50-50." Maxi said. "Thanks anyway."

"Wait a sec. You said 50 and 49.5? Who's the .5 percent?"

"That would be me…" The girl walked up, her heels clicking against the tiled floor.

Kyle and Maxi looked up and saw the raven haired girl standing in front of them with her arms crossed.

"Who are you?" Kyle asked.

"Kim Nicholson." Maxi said, going through the DCA database on his tablet. "She's one of the Top 100 A-Ranks in the world."

"Nice to meet you;" She smiled. "You must be Kyle Taylor, am I right?"

Kyle nodded slowly.

"I overheard your conversation about entering the D-Fighters tournament this year; it just so happens, I was looking for a team to join."

"So you wanna become an S-Rank too?" Maxi asked.

Kim nodded. "I've won many tournaments in my dueling career, but nothing would satisfy me more than to take on S-Rank Kaijudo Masters such as the legendary Kaijudo Generation."

"So what kind of deck do you play?" Kyle asked, getting straight to the point.

Kim took a seat down at the table and crossed her legs. "Anything that involves darkness…" She said bluntly. "KG's Dark Reaper was my childhood idol, so I made my play style around him when I first started playing."

"Really…? So did I! I made my decks around the Terra Knight's old decks."

Kim surprisingly perked up in interest as the two began to trade their favorite stories about their favorite dueling idols. Maxi just looked at them both and sighed.

"It's like having two Kyle's…" he said.

"Tech thinks these two will become best friends." Tech stated. "At least 80%"

"Oh no way;" Maxi intervened. "Kyle wouldn't replace me."

"Hey do you wanna duel after school?" Kyle asked.

Kim nodded almost instantly. "Definitely, I was gonna head over to TCG towers anyway to tweak my deck a bit."

"So it's a date then?"

"Sounds like it."

Maxi looked at the two teens, kinda speechless about how coincidental that event played out.

"Tech's probability that Maxi will be replaced just raised another 10%."

"Shut up you stupid rinse cup." Maxi snarled at his deck avatar.

* * *

After school, the three of them headed to TCG Towers, the famous Mini-Mall-type establishment in NYC, where the members of Kaijudo Generation spent quite a bit of their time in when they were younger.

Walking into the shop, the three went to the front counter to look at the Single cards laid out in the display.

"Hey Maxi, I need your advice." Kyle told him. "Axel's bugging me about giving him a deck avatar body, but I don't have a Key card for my deck; any ideas?"

"Well you deck is Armored Dragons and Beast Kin. Honestly shouldn't be that hard." Maxi told him.

"_I said the same thing."_ Axel noted.

"It is hard when you wanna make it special." Kyle replied to the both of them.

"How about this one…?" Kim pointed to the red card in the case.

"Tatsurion the Unchained…? I never heard of it. Is it any good?"

Kim nodded. "If you play it right, it works wonders. Plus, it's awesome looking."

"Well Axel…?"

"_I'd be satisfied with a Blaze Belcher body."_ The deck case replied, getting desperate for a body.

"Well I guess that could-"

"_I WAS KIDDING! Just buy the card please?" _Axel snapped.

"Alright, alright; how much is the Tatsurion the Unchained card?"

"Just one…? $10;"

"Ten Dollars for a card?" he turned to Maxi.

"I'm not lending you money."

"Oh come on, all I have is $9."

"Shouldn't have bought that Pepsi on the way here…" Maxi replied.

"Aw come on dude, please?"

"Thank you very much." Kim said as she received the very card.

"Kim! You are like my new best friend!" Kyle said excitedly.

"What?" Maxi stammered. "You just throw me away like that because I wouldn't give you a dollar?"

"_Tech's probability of Maxi's replacement: 100%." _Maxi spoke through the case.

"Shut up Tech!" Maxi yelled at his case.

Kyle reached for the card but Kim pulled it back. "Not so fast."

"What? But I thought-"

"I did. But then again, A Super rare card like this would look pretty in my collection."

"Fine… what do I have to do to get it from you?"

"Beat me in a duel of course." Kim told him. "And as a handicap, I'll let you use it; you're gonna need it. And of course, if you do beat me, then I'll join your team. Sound fair?"

"And if you win?" Kyle asked.

"I keep Tatsurion and you luck out on getting me on your team."

"Alright;" Kyle said calmly. "Let's get ready then." He then reached into his pocket and strapped his glove on. He clutched his fist, red and green lightning sparking around it.

"You're not the only one who can do that." Kim held her purple and white gloved hand and it produced Blue and Purple lighting around it. "Every A-Rank has some kind of Mastery over the Kaijudo Arts so you showing off, is just killing time."

"Gotta make this entertaining right?" Kyle asked.

The two duelists walked over to the silver duel table that had a glass-like dome that split the two sides apart. They set their decks down and put their Kaijudo ID's in the machine.

"REAPER GIRL: CONFIRMED!" Kim put her hand on the side of the terminal, making it light up on her side.

"JETBLAZE KNIGHT: CONFIRMED!" Kyle put his hand on the side of the terminal, activating his side as well.

The ten teal-shaped shields, five on each side materialized on the dome as the teens set the cards face-down. They drew their five cards and nodded to each other.

* * *

"DUEL START!" They announced. The holographic sign popped up in the terminal, disappearing and turning into a turn counter on the top of the dome, with the scores on each side next to it.

"Ladies first;" Kim taunted.

"Be my guest then." Kyle countered.

Kim smirked and set Darkness mana, making a purple amethyst crystal materialize in the terminal with the Darkness Civilization symbol which consisted of a single horned mask with the colors of it split between purple and white; the mask also had fangs on the side of its mouth. The crystal disappeared as Kim ended her turn.

Kyle drew and set Nature mana, in turn a Emerald Mana crystal materialized with the symbol of Nature, being represented by a tree engraved within it.

"I end my turn as well." He said, passing it to her.

Kim drew, and set Water mana this time, the Sapphire crystal materializing; the Water symbol resembled a wave of water with cybernetic circuits surrounding it. The Darkness crystal materialized alongside it as Kim tapped both cards in her mana zone.

"I Summon Skeeter Swarmer." She set the card in her Battle Zone, causing the very creature to mutate from the fusing crystals. It resembled a mosquito, black with a red tattoo on its head. The tattoo though was a spiral tube that sent information from the metal spout on its underside.

"I end my turn."

Kyle drew and set Fire mana this time around, the Ruby crystal materializing, having the Fire Symbol, represented by a Cog Gear with a flame spouting from the eye of the gear. The Nature Crystal materialized as well as Kyle tapped his mana.

"I Summon Drakon Weaponsmith."

The two crystals lined together and turned into a dragon-like humanoid with red tipped braids and claw-like gauntlets on its arms. It screeched at the Skeeter Swarmer and the Brain Jacker made sounds right back at it.

"I end my turn." Kyle told her.

Kim drew and set mana once again. "I summon Aqua Senechal and end my turn."

The two Water and the darkness crystals materialized and fused to become a water-based humanoid with white armor covering his chest area. Said creature scanned the area to find the Drakon waiting to tear something apart.

Kyle drew and set mana, tapping all three as well. "I summon Razorhide!"

A brownish-spiked indigo hedgehog materialized into the battle zone next to the Weaponsmith.

"Drakon Weaponsmith, break a shield, Ike!" Kyle tapped the card, the Drakon Weaponsmith charging in.

The Weaponsmith flipped over the Skeeter Swarmer who said patiently as it kicked a shield to bits.

The Shield counter on Kim's side went down to four, as the small spout in the table shot the card into the air. She caught the card and added it to her hand.

"Surprised you didn't block that." Kyle noticed.

"I have my reasons." Kim said. "Doesn't make sense to lose a blocker so early on…" She drew her next card and set it. "I Summon Skull Cutter."

A Small creature with a marked skeleton mask and bone-shaped blades for hands materialized from three of the crystals.

"Now then… Senechal, attack Drakon Weaponsmith." She tapped her creature, making the Senechal charge a ball of compressed energy from its hands. It slithered towards the Weaponsmith who charged back. Before it could react however, Senechal slammed the energy onto it, making it revert into data.

The same air shooter shot Drakon Weaponsmith as Kyle was forced to put it into the graveyard.

"And when Senechal attacks, I draw a card." Kim said as she drew. "I end my turn."

Kyle drew and set mana. "May have lost Weaponsmith, but that doesn't mean I'm down for the count; I Summon Bronze-arm tribe."

The four crystals formed into a green horse-like creature dressed in a loin cloth, wielding a pitchfork. It held its hand in the air, revealing a Nature Mana crystal.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe sends the top card of my deck into my mana zone." He said as he sent Fear Fang into mana.

"Razorhide, attack Aqua Senechal!"

"Skeeter blocks." Kim countered, much to Kyle's dismay.

Razorhide's spikes extended as it dashed towards Senechal, ready to tackle it. However the Skeeter Swarmer moved in and rejected razor's attempt. The Mosquito latched onto the fallen Beast kin and exploded along with it.

"When Razorhide attacks, I add the top card of my deck into my mana zone." He said adding his second Drakon Weaponsmith into mana. "I end my turn."

Kim nodded. She drew and set her fifth mana. "I summon Aqua Soldier, and Aqua Commando; Then I attack with Senechal, Ike, break his shield!"

From the crystals, a Blue Seaman with long blue pincers materialized alongside a creature made completely out of water with two red eyes. Senechal dove past them and broke one of Kyle's shields, the card bouncing into his hand.

"Skull Cutter, break another shield!"

The Small creature ran up and broke a second shield, leaving Kyle with three.

Kyle retrieved the card and smirked with delight. "Shield Blast: Rock Bite! When activated I can banish one of your power 3000 or less creatures and I banish Skull Cutter."

The virtual battlefield erupted suddenly as the ground opened up under the small creature. A rock-like lizard head came up and swallowed the creature, returning back to where it sprouted just as fast.

"Nice one!" Maxi exclaimed.

Kim didn't seem upset at that maneuver, ending her turn.

Kyle drew and set mana, tapping five.

"Let's go, Hyperspeed Dragon!" he set the card down as the five crystals materialized and formed into a golden armored crimson dragon with dozens of fist extending from it's back.

"Now Bronze-arm tribe break another shield ike!"

Bronze roared and threw his pitchfork like a javelin, shattering Kim's second shield.

The shield popped up and she caught it.

"Oh look at that…" she flipped the card over. "Guess that's karma for you. Shield Blast: Bone Blades."

"Shoot!"

Senechal grabbed the materializing bone daggers and went in to cut down the defenseless Bronze-arm tribe.  
"Bone Blades banishes one of my opponent's creatures with a level of 4 or less."

Kyle reluctantly put bronze in the grave, where he sat alongside Razorhide.

"I end…" Kyle said. he looked at the field, seeing that he was about to get hammered by three water creatures coming his way. He needed a plan… or a miracle for that matter.

Kim looked at him and drew. "What's the matter? You're worried that you won't get the Tatsurion card from me?"

Kyle looked and scoffed. "Stupid mind reader."

Kim smirked and set mana. She pulled the card from her hand and her hand sparked with the purple lightning.

"She's about to summon her trump card…" Maxi realized.

"Crawl out of the depths of the Miasma Pit: Razorkinder Puppet!"

She set the card in the battle zone as the evil puppet materialized alongside its comrades. It chuckled with its evil laugh and it pointed towards Kyle.

"When I summon Razorkinder Puppet, I can look in your hand and discard a card of my choosing…"

Kyle's eyes widened. "That's not good!"

"Come on, show me what you have."

Kyle flipped the five cards in his hand: Fear Fang, Bolshack Dragon, Raging Goliant, Tornado Flame and Gilaflame the Assaulter.

"I'll discard Gilaflame." She pointed.

Razorkinder chuckled as it watched Kyle discard the card.

"Now then my creatures… Break his shields!"

Senechal, Commando and Soldier all charged ahead. Kim drew from Senechal's ability as he broke the first shield. No Trigger. Commando used its water powers to create a blade, which slashed the second shield.

Kyle retrieved it and saw how Soldier was getting ready to break the last one.

"Hold up there! Shield Blast: Tornado Flame on Aqua Soldier!"

The creature gasped as the shield shards turned into the crimson tornado eating it before it could scratch the final shield.

Kim shrugged her shoulders. "Next turn, it's over so it doesn't matter."

"You sure about that…?" Kyle smirked, suddenly getting a huge determination boost. He drew and set mana, tapping all seven. He pulled out a card in his hand and it sparked with red lightning, similar to Kim.

"Kyle has a trump card!" Maxi realized.

"Yes I do… Break the Chains: Roar Tatsurion the Unchained!" Kyle slammed the card onto the table as the creature materialized from the seven crystals, surprising both Kim and Maxi.

Tatsurion was a Red muscular dragon creature with black and gold armor on his body and red chains covering his wrists. His face showed more of a beastly side than a dragon with the snout and teeth; however his three horns on his muzzle and the three-horned headplate on his forehead showed that he was a dragon as well. Extending from his right shoulder was a Gatling Turret which complimented the gold coloring of his armor.

"When Tatsurion the Unchain enters the Battle Zone, I can banish one of your creatures with power 4000 or less. So Tatsurion, get rid of the puppet!"

Tatsurion roared in agreement, locking his turret onto the puppet and unleashing the fury of the fire civilization onto it.

"Now Tatsurion, attack Aqua Senechal!"

"Did you forget…?" Kim intervened. "Tatsurion has summoning sickness."

"I guess you don't know anything about Hyperspeed Dragon's ability…"

"His ability…"

"When there's another Armored Dragon present, Hyperspeed Dragon gives all of my Armored Dragons 'Fast Attack' an ability that takes away the summoning sickness of my Armored Dragons!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh Yes!" Kyle mimicked. "Tatsurion, evaporate it!"

Tatsurion leapt onto Senechal, who generated blades to defend itself. Unfortunately it was to no avail as Tatsurion laid waste to it. It then turned its attention to aqua commando.

"Oh and Tatsruion's other ability, is that when it wins a battle, it can untap."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Kim said annoyed.

"Hyperspeed Dragon, take Commando!"

Hyperspeed Dragon unleashed its fist which pummeled Aqua Commando into a puddle.

"When Aqua Commando is destroyed, I return it to my hand."

"Finally Tatsurion: Double Break!"

Tatsurion jumped back and aimed its fist in the air, opening two rocket launcher hatches from it. The rockets shot towards their targets, breaking another two shields.

The two cards shot into her hand, one of them giving her a sign of relief.

"Shield Blast: Terror Pit; destroy Hyperspeed Dragon!"

"Crud…"

The Broken shield shards all turned into trillions of black hands which swarmed the dragon and ultimately crushed it.

"I end my turn." He told her.

Kim drew her card and set it. "I summon two Skeeter Swarmer's."

The two mosquito creatures materialized and she ended her turn.

Kyle drew his next card and set it in mana. "Knew it was a good idea to save these two..."

"Oh don't tell me…"

"I cast two comet missiles." Kyle smirked. The two rockets infused comets materialized and crashed into both of the blockers, wiping them out.

"And to add insult to injury… Gilaflame the Assaulter..."

A Silver armored Drakon creature with red blades extending from its gauntlets materialized.

"With no blockers, you better pray that last shield's gonna trigger." Kyle said. "Gilaflame, break it!"

Gilaflame nodded and flew at mach speed, practically teleporting in front of it, slashing it into pieces.

Kim took the card, hoping for a trigger… "No trigger."

"Sweet; Tatsurion the Unchained: Todomeda!"

Tatsurion aimed his artillery and let out a massive assault towards Kim's open field, ending it. The Turn counter stopped and changed its appearance, reading: "WINNER: JETBLAZE KNIGHT"

* * *

"You're welcome Axel, I did this for you." Kyle said as he looked at his deck case.

"_We could've avoided this if you didn't spend that dollar."_ Axel mentioned, not wanting to let go of that.

"I'm sorry! Just drop it please!" Kyle pleaded.

"Good Game." Kim said. "Like I promised, I'll let you keep the card, and I'll join your team."

"Really…? That's awesome!" Kyle said excitedly. "If all we have to do is keep dueling people to make them join our team then this should be a cinch.

Maxi walked over to the two teens and looked down at Kim's hand.

"Is that a Veil Vortex…?" Maxi asked.

Kim looked down and realized she was holding the card.

"What about it?"

"That was your broken shield wasn't it?"

Kim realized that she did in fact get it from that last shield. "Oh well you know… Even if I did activate it, it wouldn't have done anything."

"You never know. Shouldn't leave anything up to chance; you could've made a comeback if you did activate it.

"Who knows…?" Kim shrugged her shoulders. "Nonetheless, you used Tatsurion the Unchained like a pro, so win or lose, you deserve it."

"I appreciate it. OK Axel, here it comes."

"_Finally…"_ The deck case spoke in relief.

Kyle slid the card across the card reader on the case as the case took a second to register it.

_**DECK AVATAR: TATSURION THE UNCHAINED: CONFIRMED**_**.**

Tatsurion materialized on Kyle shoulder as the avatar stretched and looked at its new body.

"So, how is it…?" he asked the hologram.

"I like it." Axel replied. "Really like it."

"Like I said: the best of both worlds…" Kyle smirked.

Axel nodded.

"So with that aside, we need a team name."

Kim didn't see that coming. "You guys wanted me to join a team, with no name?"

"Well… this team thing was a little last minute so…"

"How about Victory Drive…?" Maxi spoke.

"Victory Drive? Sounds like a racing game." Kyle admitted.

"Well think about it; A team aiming for nothing less than victory, and each member has the drive and determination to achieve it."

"It does have a nice ring to it." Kim admitted. "After all, Kaijudo Generation's name came from their decision to become the next Kaijudo Masters of their Generation's duelist."

With two against one, Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "OK then, Team VD it is."

"Awesome!" Maxi said happily.

"Now then… who else are we gonna recruit…?" Kyle realized. "Getting you to join was a fluke to be honest."

"Well let's not worry about it for now." Kim suggested. "Let's just go duel and and we'll work our way from there."

"Fine by me; Maxi, you're up." Kyle said eagerly.

"I won't hold back tech." Axel roared.

"Tech's not scared of a Beast. Tech is a beast!" the small creature made a little roar of its own.

"Aww that Reef Prince is so cute." Kim said. "Kyle, waste it."

"You know it."

"DUEL START!" Kyle and Maxi called out staring the duel…

* * *

Later that night, Kyle stared at the Tatsurion card, loving the fact that he found the perfect trump card for his deck.

"You've been staring at my card for hours. Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed…?"

"I can't help it, this card is like the love child of KG's Terra Knight and Lady Amaterasu." Kyle said. "C.J. Henderson and Jamie Martin are like one of the famous Couples in the dueling world, and this creature is like their better halves. "The Dragons from Jamie and the Beast Kin from C.J. Oh man what I wouldn't give to meet them and the others. The White Knight of Light: Jake Wilson, the Deep Sea General: Dylan Rodriguez, and the Dark Reaper: Karon Davidson."

"That's why we're gonna get two more members and win this tournament right…?" Axel asked.

"That's why we're gonna get two more members and win this tournament." Kyle replied. "All right, that's enough dueling for today. Night Axel."

Kyle shut the light out. "Good Night Kyle…" Axel, instead of returning to the case, curled up on the nightstand and closed its green eyes…

[END]


	2. The Wind Princess

Chapter 2: The Princess of the Sky

"Alrighty then, anyone of you two know why I called you here to my humble abode so early on a Saturday?" Kyle asked.

Kim and Maxi looked at him with tired eyes, barely able to stay awake if not for his obnoxiously loud voice.

"Because you hate sleep and you want us to drag us into it as well?" Kim raised her hand. She then used that same hand to cover her yawning mouth.

"Nope, try again; how about you Maxi?"

Kim turned next to her and saw the boy sleeping soundly on the corner of the sofa. She picked up the pillow next to her and smacked him awake.

Maxi jumped up as if he was struck by lightning. "It's because we don't have a new team for our member right?"

Kyle sighed. "Flip the words dude."

"Kyle…?" Kim raised her hand again. "As you can see we can't function without food and/or coffee in our systems. As team leader you need to be responsible for your teammates well-being."

"But why is it my Job? Not my fault that you guys didn't get enough rest."

"Actually it is your fault." She replied, yawning again. "I haven't gotten up this early since Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. Normally I'd be sleeping right now, not having a team meeting at 8am on a Saturday morning."

"Alright Alright I get it." He acknowledged. It was clear to him that he wasn't going to get anything out of them until they had something to kick start them. "Fortunately for you guys I live a few blocks from a McDonalds."

"Oh that's so sweet of you." Kim smiled.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I'm a real charmer. I'll be back in a bit. In the meantime…" he grabbed the remote from the coffee table and threw it to Maxi, who jumped up again from the shock.

"Watch some Saturday morning cartoons. I think Cartoon Networks doing a Duel Masters marathon."

"If it's all the same, I'd rather watch something _not_ related to DM at the moment. Playing the game is one thing, but my brain can't take those awful jokes this early in the morning." Kim noted. "Bring me back a Mocha frappe?"

"Got it; Maxi, small coffee light and sweet, right?"

Maxi drowsily nodded.

"I will take that as a yes." Kyle assumed. "I'll be back."

The door shut behind Kyle as Kim flipped through the channels on the TV. She stopped when the screen showed a cartoon featuring a group of multicolored ponies interacting with each other. She grew wide-eyed as if she was drowning in a pool of nostalgia.

"Oh my god I haven't seen this show since I was a little kid! I'm surprised its still on the air." She said, leaning forward.

"Oh no! Tech is not watching My Little Pony!" The Reef Prince rejected at the sight of it.

Kim turned to the little deck avatar and stuck her tongue out. "Unless you have some way to change the channel, don't argue."

Tech glared at her and crossed his arms. "Tech accepts challenge!" he turned towards the television and his eyes flashed red for a brief moment.

The TV suddenly changed over to another show, where a tall British man in a suit was running with an attractive young woman into a blue wooden box.

"What—how did you…?" Kim asked surprised.

"Maxi upgrades deck case programming." Tech said proudly. "Tech can access electrical signals and can control machines at will. In other words: Tech troll 'Puppet Girl'."

"Oh yeah, we'll just see about that." Kim switched back to My Little Pony.

Tech's eyes flashed again, switching back to Doctor Who.

"Quit it you stupid rinse cup!" she changed the channel, but Tech switched it back almost as fast.

Kim and Tech continued to go back and forth until one of them changed to another channel entirely.

"And welcome back to this week's presentation of Duel Zone! The Show where we go over the highlights of the major tournaments happening all over the world! I'm your host D-MAX and I welcome you viewers at home to the perfect reason to be up on an early Saturday morning! Now without further ado, let's get on with the show!"

Kim sighed and turned to Tech. "Is this okay with you?"

Tech nodded. "Doctor Who episode was a repeat."

* * *

"Wow I can't believe it's been two weeks since we became a team…" Kyle said folding his hand on the back of his head.

Axel materialized onto his shoulder. "You say that, but you guys haven't done anything 'team-related' since you made up the name."

"Which is what I was trying to tell them before I got forced to feed those two;" Kyle replied. "The tournament's coming up soon and we still need two more members."

"Well, maybe you just need to find someone that isn't around here, like someone who just moved in."

"Wow, that isn't impossible at all, nope." Kyle said sarcastically.

"It was a suggestion; I didn't say that you had to go along with it."

"Good because I'm not." He said, opening the door to the restaurant.

"Hmph; I don't see you coming up with any ideas…" Axel said offended.

"It's a work in progress. You can't just pick anyone. They need to have charm, passion…" Without looking Kyle bumped into someone in front of him and the sound of a plastic cups and drinks splashing in all directions was heard from below afterward.

"Oh man!" the blonde-haired girl knelt down to pick up one of the cups of spilt coffee from the ground.

"Oh my god, that was my bad!" Kyle shot down to pick up the other two cups. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Don't worry about it. I'm a bit of a klutz myself," she tried to laugh off. "Man that was all the money I brought with me…"

"I'll replace it!" Kyle said without question. "Don't worry about it it's on me."

The blonde girl looked at him and smiled. She stood up and noticed one of the drinks covering her green shirt. "It's on me too…"

Kyle couldn't help but smile at that. "I'm Kyle."

"Amy." She replied, shaking his hand.

* * *

Minutes later Kyle returned to his house with a curled smile on his face and his cheeks a faint red color.

"Wow…" he said, feeling warm.

"Um… Coffee Team Leader?" Kim looked over the couch with a wide-awake Maxi, chewing on a piece of bacon.

Kyle snapped out of his daydream and saw his two teammates eating breakfast without him.

"Who made that?" he asked surprised that they were eating.

"Allison did." Maxi replied. "I never knew your sister could cook dude!"

"Hey, Team Leader: Coffee, Now, Please!" Kim repeated, snapping her fingers to get his attention.

Kyle turned to her and facepalmed himself. "I forgot it!"

Kim's arm dropped and her eyesight fixated on him. "You forgot it?"

"It's a long story…" Kyle said.

"You got thirty seconds before I shove your deck case down your throat." She snarled.

"Me and Axel were talking on our way to McDonalds about how it's been two weeks since we made this team and that we haven't recruited any new people since we met you; I rejected his initial idea about adding someone who just moved here and in my distraction caused me to bump into this cute girl named Amy. I replaced her drinks with the money I was gonna use for us and we started talking. Turns out she actually just moved her to NYC and she's also a Duelist and I asked what her rank was, she's an A-rank like us and then I told her about our team and she doesn't know if she wants to join because she's kinda well known where she used to live and she doesn't wanna draw attention in case some recognizes her and I told her 'don't worry about it, what's the worst that can happen?' and she agreed but only after she duels me. So…: I have to meet her at TCG Towers around noon and I promised I'd take you guys along so she could meet you."

"3.3 seconds remaining." Tech announced to them.

"So… The reason why I don't have coffee is because you met a girl…?" Kim asked him.

"Who _might_ join our team, I might add." Kyle replied.

"You met a girl and she's the reason why I don't have coffee?" Kim repeated. She stood up and got closer to Kyle, who moved back into the door.

"Did I mention that she might join our team…?" Kyle repeated, becoming fearful of his teammate.

Jester materialized onto Kim's shoulder and cackled at him.

"Maxi! Kim's going 'jealous mode!' Do something quick before I start coughing up comet missiles!" Kyle called out to him.

Kim hesitated and her face flushed as she took one leap back. "Wha—what makes you think that I'm jealous!? Look, let's just forget about the coffee thing alright?" she got back on the couch and focused on the television.

"And that ladies and gentlemen, is the elegant fury of the Duel World's 'Wind Princess' Amanda Earhart. Becoming an A-Rank at the age of 15, she has taken the nation by storm with her Partner: Alcadeus, Winged Justice! Where will the winds of fate guide her next as she continues to soar above the competition?"

"She's on the top 100 leaderboard. She's ranked number 47." Maxi said, going through his tablet.

"Wow, she must be good then." Kim said. "What do you think of her Kyle?"

"That's her!" Kyle exclaimed.

Kim turned around. "Say that again?"

"That's Amy! That's the girl I just met!" he repeated again.

Maxi turned back with the same surprised expression. "Are you serious? Do you know how awesome it'd be to have her on our team?"

"Oh I do!" Kyle said excitedly. "Axel! Forget what I said earlier, that was the best idea you've ever came up with!"

Axel scoffed. "Every idea I give you is the best idea I'd ever come up with because I'm always right!"

Kim turned back. "She's just eye-candy for the two of you isn't she?"

"That is not true!" Kyle and Maxi exclaimed.

"Tech scans show that both Kyle and Maxi 90% lying."

"SHUT UP YOU RINSE CUP!" they both snapped.

Jester cackled, amused at Tech being berated.

* * *

And so, noon time rolled around and the Trio walked through the doors of TCG towers where Amy sat patiently across the room, skimming through her deck.

"Hey Amy!" Kyle waved to her.

Amy looked up, hearing his voice and smiled.

"Wow, she's cuter in person!" Maxi said.

"Oh please!" Kim said in annoyance. "You two haven't seen a cute girl before."

Kyle looked over to her. "Well not one who's both hot and duels too."

Kim slammed her heel into Kyle's foot after he made that comment, making him yelp in pain.

"Holy crud can't you take a joke!?" Kyle asked her as he sat into a chair and held his foot for dear life. "Man what's in your heel, cement?"

Kim ignored him and walked up to Amy who was coming from the opposite direction.

"Hi there, I'm Kim." She smiled. "I'll be dueling you in Kyle's place if you don't mind."

"Why what happened to him?" she looked over to him.

"I just got my foot—" Kyle cut himself off when he noticed the jester running his claws across it's throat, telling Kyle that Kim will kill him if he says what happened to him.

"What happened to your foot?" Amy asked curiously.

"I hit my foot in one of the K-terminals, no biggie." He lied. He looked over to Jester who gave him a thumb up.

"Kim, can you please duel Amy for me, I don't think I can stand…" Kyle said, taking deep breaths through the pain.

"Thought you'd never ask…" She said, sliding her glove on. "…Kettou Da!" her hand then sparked.

"Oh, so you have skills in Kaijudo Art too?" Amy said amused. "This should be interesting." She noted, sliding her yellow and white glove on. Her hand sparked with Green and White lightning as well.

They walked over to the K-Terminal next to them and shuffled their decks. They set their decks and slid their Kaijudo IDs into the terminal.

"REAPER GIRL: CONFIRMED!" Kim set her hand on the side of the terminal, activating her side, as five teal-shaped shields materialized on her side.

"WIND PRINCESS: CONFIRMED!" Amy followed suit as five shields appeared on her side as well.

With their shields set and their hands drawn, only two words kept them from starting their match.

"DUEL… START!" They announced to each other and their spectators as the Holographic Sign projected with the same words. It dispersed and hovered on both sides as counters for their Shields.

* * *

"I'll start off." Kim set Darkness mana and tapped it. "I summon Marrow Ooze!"

The amethyst crystal materialized and began to melt, turning into a mutant creature, a tan monster with red and blue lines on its body, and multiple tentacles with tiny mouths on its arms and shoulders.

"Your turn." Kim told her.

Amy nodded, drawing and setting Light mana to start off. "I'll do the same; I summon Thunder Cruiser."

The Topaz Light crystal materialized, having the symbol of the Sun engraved in it. It dispersed and turned into a small brown-tipped white ship that hovered on Amy's side.

"I end my turn." She said.

Kim drew her next card and she set Water mana. "I cast: Ice Blades, return Thunder Cruiser!"

Marrow grabbed the materializing blades and slashed the air, the blades unleashing a cold wind that blew Thunder Cruiser out of the Battle Zone.

"Now then, Marrow Ooze, Break her shield, ike!" Kim tapped Marrow Ooze as the zombie slithered and used the Ice Blades to slash the shield to bits.

The card shot up from the terminal, with Amy catching it. She looked at it, and flipped it around. "Shield Blast: I activate Sprout." She set the card to the grave and sent the top card of her deck into her mana zone.

Kim nodded acknowledging the play and setting Marrow Ooze to the grave yard. "I end my turn."

Amy drew and set her third mana. "I summon Thunder Cruiser and Essence Elf."

Thunder Cruiser materialized once again, but this time alongside a small feminine-like plant creature with bright orange wing-like arms.

"Essence elf boosts all of my creatures by +1000 with its Nature's Gift ability, putting Thunder Cruiser at 3000 power." Amy noted.

Thunder cruiser began to radiate with a green aura as she mentioned Essence Elf's ability.

"I can do math, thanks." Kim said as she drew her next card. She set mana and tapped all three.

"I Cast Logos Scan and draw two cards."

The three mana crystals materialized and formed together two smaller shield-like rectangles that disappeared shortly after. Kim drew her two cards and gave a small smile, liking what she drew.

"I end my turn." She announced.

Amy drew her card and set mana. "I summon Bronze-arm Tribe, and I add the top card of my deck into mana." She took the top card and flipped it over into her mana zone. "I end my turn there."

"Afraid to attack…?" Kim taunted. "Not what I expected from Number 47."

Amy smirked. "Guess you saw the Duel Zone Highlights huh; knew I'd draw attention to myself one way or another."

Kim drew her card and set mana. "I wouldn't worry about it. Because after this duel, your rank's gonna drop." She tapped all four mana. "I Summon Aqua Senechal and a second Marrow Ooze."

Senechal and Ooze materialized next to each other and locked their sights on their opponents.

"Is that right?" Amy drew her card and set her mana. "In that case I should stop taking it easy on you. I summon Starlight Strategist!"

Six Mana crystals lined across Amy's side as they fused together and became a towering Gold robotic creature with various golden orbs encircling it. Its small blue eyes lit up as it descended amongst its allies.

"Alright, you got her on the ropes now!" Maxi and Kyle chanted.

"Whose side are you on!?" Kim turned to her teammates in fury.

Kyle and Maxi closed their mouths instantly pretending that they never said a word.

Amy giggled. "Sorry about that. I kinda have that effect on guys…"

That set a nerve off in Kim. She turned around back her opponent and her glove sparked violently to show her rising annoyance. "Now I'm definitely bringing you down." She drew her next card and sent it to mana. "I cast Bone Blades on Thunder Cruiser!"

Marrow Ooze was once again armed with blades as he threw them into the ship, which then exploded from the damage. Amy moved the card to the graveyard.

"Aqua Senechal, break her shield! And with his Choten's Advisor ability, whenever he attacks I get to draw one card from my deck." She drew her card.

Senechal formed the blue energy ball from his hands and slammed it into the shield, it breaking into pieces. Amy took the broken shield and added it to her hand.

"I end my turn." Kim stated as Amy drew.

Amy set mana and tapped all seven of the cards.

"It's been fun while it lasted Kim, but now it's time I put an end to this;" her glove sparked with the Green and White lightning. "Soar through the winds of Truth: Alcadeus, Winged Justice!"

The Seven Emerald and Topaz Crystals fused together to create a Sapphire and Gold Robotic warrior with illuminating white wings. He slowly descended down with his arms crossed, with all of the creatures acknowledging his presence.

"This is Vento, My Alcadeus." Amy said reassuringly. "He'll bring you to justice soon enough."

Kim hesitated by Amy's sudden change in demeanor. So much so that she didn't realize that Marrow Ooze tapped.

"Starlight Strategist's ability: Celestial Guide; it taps one of your creatures whenever one of my Skyforce Champions enters the battle zone."

"That's not good!" Kyle said. "That means that Amy can take out both of Kim's creatures this turn."

Starlight released one of its orbs as it shot towards Marrow and paralyzed it with a bolt of electricity.

"Bronze attack Marrow Ooze; Starlight attack Senechal, Ike!"

Bronze and Starlight both went on the offensive and took down both creatures, making quick work of them both, much to a surprised Kim.

"I end my turn." Amy said.

Kim shook off the shock and drew her next card. She tossed her other card to mana and used the card she drew. "I cast Logos scan to draw two cards." She drew her two cards, drawing Bone Blades and Skeeter Swarmer. As much as Bone Blades would help, she used half of her mana on Logos Scan, so she couldn't use it to take out Bronze-arm tribe. She sighed and tapped two mana.

"I summon Skeeter Swarmer." Better any defense than no defense, she thought.

The Mosquito-like creature materialized into the battle zone.

"I end my turn." Kim said, not liking her odds.

Amy drew and set mana, tapping them for the last card in her hand. "I Summon Twilight Commander." She said as she set the card down.

A copper-colored robot, in similar shape as Starlight Strategist materialized, as Starlight sent one of its orbs to tap Skeeter.

"Starlight, Attack Skeeter."

Starlight unleashed the rest of its orbs as it commanded them to squash the bug.

"Bronze-arm tribe, break her shield!"

Bronze twirled its pitchfork and hurled it into one of her shields, shattering it. Kim took the shield as it flew into her hand. "No trigger."

"Alcadeus: Double break! Also, with his Infused with Light ability, I can untap any one of my Level 5 or less creatures. I untap Bronze-Arm tribe."

Alcadeus aimed his arm in front of two of the shields and fired a light beam that decimated them both. Two shields flew into Kim's hand, once again, not triggering.

"Now, with Bronze-arm tribe untapped, I'm allowed to attack with it again. Once more, Bronze!"

Bronze stretched its arms and tossed its pitchfork again, leaving Kim with one shield left.

"Not going down that easily! Shield Blast: Terror Pit on Alcadeus!"

The shield shards glimmered briefly before turning into the legion of purple hands that crushed the surprised robot.

"Vento, no!" Amy said surprised.

"Arrivederci, you stupid rust bucket;" Kim said with a devilish smile on her face.

Amy glared at her opponent. "Essence elf, break her last shield."

Kim suddenly shifted back to reality as the holographic shield shards skimmed across the field, leaving her field empty.

"I wouldn't celebrate if I were you." Amy said in a dark tone. "There's no way for you to get yourself out of this situation. I'd suggest you give up."

Kim suddenly felt Amy's Kaijudo Energy building. Her body began to grow cold from the fear of facing that, which was a first for her because she never faced a duelist that could intimidate her. There was definitely more to this girl than she lead on. And today wasn't the day that Kim wanted to find out."

She drew her card and sighed. "I end my turn. Good Game."

Amy smiled gracefully. "Yeah, it was definitely a good game!" She took Twilight Commander and tapped it. "Todomeda!"

The K-Terminal lit up and the Turn Counter turned into a display which read: "WINNER: WIND PRINCESS!"

* * *

Kim collected her cards and turned to head out the door.

"Hey, Kim where are you going…?" Kyle turned as his eyes followed her.

"To catch up on my sleep." She replied, yawning. "It's a Saturday and I lost three hours of sleep because of you."

He rolled his eyes. "OK fine. Text you later…?"

She held a thumb up in response as the door slid open.

"What's gotten into her?" Maxi wondered.

"Some people can't take losses as easily as others I suppose." Axel commented.

"I guess that's a possibility."

"Um Kyle…?" Amy chimed in. "About that team thing…"

"Oh yeah; Listen, you beat us fair and square and since I know that I said that you had to join our team if you lost, we never agreed on what happened if you won right?"

"Actually… I was wondering if I could join anyway?"

Kyle and Maxi's eyes widened.

"What's with the surprised look guys?" she asked them. "I mean, Kim's a really powerful duelist, I'm sure she's stronger than what she lead on today."

"So you wanna join just to have a rematch with Kim?"

"Well, yeah; and I got two handsome guys to duel alongside with." She said getting closer to them.

Kyle and Maxi both turned beet red from her advances, to which she laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Everybody tends to think I'm nothing but eye-candy and they tend not to take me seriously when it comes to dueling, especially the girl duelists. They always think I'm some blonde-dunce who just pretends to be into card games just to get close to guys."

"But you're not, right?" Kyle asked.

"Oh please. I've been dueling since I was a little kid. Megan Warner and Jake Wilson are my dueling idols, especially since they both used Alcadeus in their decks when they were our age. I want to become S-Ranks like they are so I can duel both of them."

"So you wanna become something like a Master Skyforce Champion?" Maxi pondered at the thought.

Amy nodded. "That's it exactly! Both my Father and Grandfather were Fighter Pilots in their time in the air force, which is why I moved so much. Since I was a kid I wanted to touch the sky with my fingertips. I want to grab the stars by my hands and I want to reach even higher than that; as far as Vento and I can reach."

The white data stream traveled from her deck case and onto her shoulder, which revealed her deck avatar.

"_Ciao."_ The Alcadeus saluted to the duo. "I am Vento, Amy's Deck Avatar; _Piacere_!"

"I'm sorry…?" Kyle was taken by surprise by the bilingual Deck Avatar.

"He said 'Pleased to meet you.'" Amy translated. "I'm actually half Italian and I grew up there when my family lived in Florence. We only moved to the states a few years ago when I began to take dueling seriously and started going competitive.

"That's so cool; I always wanted to go to Italy!" Maxi said excitedly.

"Really?! You should it's amazing, it'll be totally worth it to go!"

Maxi and Amy began to trade stories about Italy and its culture as Kyle smiled and fell back in the chair. "Well, guess that leaves only one more person, right Axel?"

The Tatsurion nodded. "Right; shouldn't been too difficult."

"Not at all…" He replied. "At least, I hope not…"

* * *

Kim continued to walk down the street, the image of Amy stuck in her head. "I don't trust that girl… She's hiding something."

Jester materialized onto her shoulder and cackled.

Kim turned to him and nodded. "Don't worry, I'm already working on it…"

Unknown to her, a pair of eyes focused on her and continued to trail behind her.

"Target Locked." The owner of the eyes smiled. "Fang, Let's move out."

The Dark wolf-like beast growled on his shoulder as it disappeared in a purple stream into his deck case. He opened his deck and stared at the "Dark Scaradorable" card on the front of the deck.

"Let the hunt begin, Reaper Girl…" he smirked, removing his sunglasses and revealing his icy blue eyes…


	3. Thrill of the Hunt

Chapter 3: Thrill of the Hunt

With the eventful day coming to a close, Kyle laid in his bed with the exciting thought of having a new team member in the beautiful Amy Earhart. All he needed was one more teammate and then he'd have team of duelist that could qualify for the D-Fighter Tournament in the coming months. However, there was another though that he couldn't shake.

"_You're thinking about Kim, aren't you?"_ The red flashing light blinked from Axel's voice.

Kyle turned to the case as the mini holographic Tatsurion materialized from the light.

"You don't think she's jealous that we have another girl on our team do you?" Kyle asked.

"Actually I think it's more of a pride thing." Axel responded. "It seems as if she took that loss pretty hard and you and Max didn't have her back like teammates should."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyle sat up.

"It means that you owe Kim an apology." Axel told him. "You guys didn't support her during her duel against Amy. You guys are supposed to be her friends."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "What do you know?" he lays back in bed and turned his back to Axel.

"I know that you know I'm right about this. You and Maxi were acting like fan boys to Amy."

Kyle didn't reply to him that time, making Axel snarl at him. "Your cellphone is right next to me. Call her and apologize." He then returned to the deck case with the guilt-filled Kyle closing his eyes…

* * *

Kyle opened his eyes not to long afterward, finding his surroundings pitch black. He looked around, to his left and right, above and below; nothing but darkness in all directions.

"Axel?" He turned to his wrist. But his Deck Case wasn't strapped to his arm.

"_KYLE! HELP ME!" _A scream suddenly shrieked through the darkness. It hit Kyle hard, the familiar voice only matching one person.

"KIM!" Kyle began to run forward, not knowing where he was going. He continued to run as her screams got louder.

"_Come on Hero, you can do it, can't you?"_ another voice asked in a dark tone.

Kyle stopped and looked around, to see where the voice came from. "Who are you?"

"_KYLE!" _Maxi's voice echoed in the darkness this time in the same direction as Kim's. Kyle didn't hesitate to continue running to reach his friends.

"Guys!" Kyle yelled out frantically. "Where are you?!"

Suddenly, Kyle stopped dead in his tracks. He took a step back, his body involuntarily moving on its own as a pair of dark red eyes started straight at him within the never ending darkness.

"_And the prey takes the bait…"_ The pair of eyes spoke in the dark toned voice.

"Who… better yet what…?" Kyle stuttered.

The red eyes began to multiply until he was surrounded in all directions. Various growls of fierce hounds were heard from those pairs as Kyle felt more paralyzed to move from his spot.

"_I'm the Boogeyman, Kyle… Every Duelist's nightmare…" _The voice spoke in a deadly tone.

The eyes grew closer to Kyle as they began to mimic Kim's voice simultaneously, adding to the nightmare.

"_Help me Kyle!"_ They spoke to him. _"Help me Please!"_

Kyle was speechless and paralyzed, not knowing what to do. He tried to force his hand to pinch himself awake, but the stare from the first pair of eyes kept him from doing so.

"_Time's up, Hero!" _The voice began to laugh maniacally as the surrounding eyes lunged forward towards Kyle.

* * *

Kyle screamed as he flew up off his bed and onto his floor in hysteria. The fall, knocking him back into reality, had him staring at his familiar white ceiling, a clear sign that whatever was happening just then was over.

"_Your conscious was beating you up, wasn't it?"_ Axel asked.

Kyle sat up and rubbed his head. "Ow… That was ten kinds of scary…"

"Seems to me that your consciousness is really letting you have it;" Axel added. "Is that a sign that you're going to apologize to Kim?"

Kyle turned to his deck case and then reached for his phone.

"It's almost midnight… better text her." Kyle thought. He quickly typed the message and set the phone back.

"Texting isn't enough. You need to do this in person." Axel told him.

"I know that. I told her that I really need to talk to her tomorrow and to meet me at TCG Towers early. It's Sunday, I'm sure she'll be up."

"Like you assumed that they would be up early this morning?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Kyle said as he got back in bed. "Trust me, she'll show up tomorrow…"

* * *

"I can't believe she didn't show up…" Kyle sighed as he leaned on the wall of the TCO Towers building. "I told her 10am and it's close to 11 now…"

"You know what they say about people who assume." Axel mentioned, crossing his arms and nodding.

"Ok seriously, what's gotten into you? You've been criticizing everything I've done since we've made this team."

"That's because you've been doing foolish things since you made this team."

"If I needed advice on how to run my team I would've asked for it!" Kyle snapped at him.

"Foolish Act # 15: Thinking you're competent enough to lead a team of duelist." Axel criticized. "You couldn't lead a Hydrobot Crab out of a Shoebox!"

As the two continued to go at each other's throats, Amy and Vento walk up to them and they both clear their throats.

"_Buon Giorno_, Gentlemen." Vento spoke up. "Are we interrupting something?"

The two of them turned and noticed their new teammates standing before them.

"Um… Hi guys." Amy smiled.

Kyle blushed slightly. "Good morning Amy… what's up?"

"Oh nothing… Just came to get some dueling practice in; how about you?"

"I was supposed to meet Kim here like an hour ago." Kyle replied, looking at both directions, thinking Kim was walking down either way.

"Oh, how sweet…" Amy said. "You two had a date today?"

Kyle's face flushed at the comment. "It's nothing like that! I just had to talk to her about something important!"

Amy's eyes lit up. "You mean you were going to tell her you love her?! Oh Kyle that's so CUTE!"

"NO NOT AT ALL!" Kyle said, turning as red as Axel's skin. He took a deep breath and continued to explain himself. "Axel convinced me that Maxi and I might've hurt her feelings yesterday when you guys were dueling and I wanted to apologize to her, that's all.

Amy nodded, completely understanding the situation. "That sounds very mature of you. Guess I should apologize too. You made me feel a bit guilty myself."

"Did I now?" Kyle laughed. "You know speaking of which, I haven't heard from Maxi either. Maybe I can drag him out here so he can apologize with me if this girl ever shows up."

Kyle pulled out his cellphone, and pulled up Maxi's number. He held the speaker to his ear as the dial tone began to start.

"Bro, do me a favor and get over here to TCG To—"

"_Sorry Hero, your little friend can't come to the phone right now. Would you like for me to take a message…?"_

Kyle's body grew cold almost instantly, the nightmarish voice from his dream echoing through the speaker and into his ear. Amy picked up on his face expression.

"Kyle?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

"Who are you?" Kyle snarled in the phone. "Where's Maxi?"

"_Safe and sound with the little 'Reaper Girl'…"_ The voice replied humored. _"I must say, you prey are much more fun compared to my previous meals."_

Kyle's heart skipped a beat. "Kim…"

"What about her?" Amy insisted on knowing.

"What do you want with them?" Kyle asked the voice.

"_Now where's the fun in telling you? You see my friend, this is a game."_

"I'm not in the mood for games!" Kyle snapped.

"_And I'm not in the mood to care for your opinion."_ It calmly replied. _"Come to this address in one hour. If you can defeat me in a duel, then you will have your companions returned to you. Failure to do so… and well, let's just say that their fate won't be so pretty…"_

The voice hung up and Kyle received a text message moments later with the address.

"Kyle, what happened?"

"Maxi and Kim are missing; I'm going to this address to beat this guy senseless and get them back."

"Hey wait! Are you sure that's a good idea?" Amy asked. "I mean, who knows how dangerous this guy is."

"Apparently you don't know how stubborn Fire Duelists can be. We're pretty hard headed."

"And as a Light Duelist, I'm telling you to think this through for a second." She stepped in front of him. "Take a second to think this through."

"Time's up, I'm gonna beat him senseless and get them back." Kyle walked around her and continued to walk.

"Kyle, this is insane! You can get hurt or worse if you go through with this!"

"And so will they if I don't!" He turned back towards her. "They are my teammates, their safety is my responsibility! I can't leave them with some maniac with their lives are in danger." He then turned to Axel. "Whether or not you consider this a bone-head move, I don't wanna hear it. You can't change my mind either."

"Actually I was going to say that I'm all for this idea. You're showing your true colors as a Team Leader. However, I'd suggest that Amy goes along with us. After all, she is a part of this team and the added firepower should help with whatever we face."

Kyle turned to Amy and Vento, both of them nodding.

"_Andiamo_ _mi amici!"_ Vento announced. "Let us fly to our comrades!"

Kyle and Amy both nodded and raced down the streets towards their destination.

* * *

Kim groaned as her eyes adjusted to the lighting around her. Her head was throbbing and for a minute she couldn't think straight, as if she was drugged or something.

"Kim you're OK!" Maxi exclaimed as he crawled over to her lying body.

"…Maxi?" She said sitting up. "What… what happened? Where are we?"

"Tech and I are trying to figure that out. Some crazy dude kidnapped us and locked us in here."

Kim looked around and realized that they were sitting in a cell.

"What the?" She did a double take of everything. "We were kidnapped? By who?"

"By some crazy dude…" Maxi repeated.

"_Oh I can assure you, I am far from crazy."_ A voice suddenly spoke up.

Kim and Maxi turned to the opening of the cell and saw a young man walk up to them. He was dressed in a red shirt, black vest, and black pants, also wearing black sunglasses. He pushed the glasses up, revealing his icy blue eyes.

Kim felt a cold chill travel through her as their eyes met, with the mysterious kidnapper smiling in delight. "It's been a while, hasn't it Kimmy?"

"Kimmy?" Maxi repeated. He turned to Kim and he saw that a tear was traveling down her face.

"Blake… you're alive…"

The man, known as Blake smiled. "Alive and so much more…"

Maxi's eyes widened this time. "Blake, as in: 'Blake Nicholson'? The same Blake Nicholson who went missing four years ago, after attending the D-Fighters Tournament?!"

"The one and only…" He bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He reached into his pocket and threw Maxi's phone through the cell. "Hope you don't mind. Your heroes for the day should be on their way."

"Kyle is coming?" Kim asked, surprised.

"And his beautiful companion, Amanda Earhart." Blake added, making Kim's expression turn sour.

"Can't believe she's coming too…" She murmured to herself.

"Am I sensing animosity from my younger sister?" Blake looked over. "As prideful as ever I see…"

"Bite me Blake!" She retorted. "I didn't ask for your input."

"Careful now; you're in my territory now brat." Blake replied. "I'd watch my tongue if I were you."

Kim growled, realizing that fact to be true.

"I'd sugguest you two get comfortable. Kim knows well that I have no intention of hurting you."

"How can we believe that?" Maxi asked. "Didn't stop you from kidnapping us that's for sure…"

"Because I like to play games; especially hunting games." Blake began to explain.

"My brother is a Hunting Enthusiast." Kim added.

"Also, that kid intrigues me. I want to see what he's capable of—If we can actually save the both of you."

"So you intend on dueling him, is that it?"

Blake smirked. "Oh Kim you should know me better than that. Why get my hands dirty?"

It then struck Kim almost instantly. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

Maxi looked at her. "What do you mean, what's going to happen?"

* * *

"KIM! MAXI! Are you in here?!" Kyle and Amy ran into the abandoned storehouse where the text message told them to head. The duo looked around, trying to find anything that could tip them off of their missing friend's locations.

"I don't see them… Are you sure this is the place?" Amy asked looking around.

"I'm positive… look there's a staircase, maybe they're upstairs!" Kyle didn't hesitate to race forward.

"Hey Kyle, wait up!" Amy reached out for him, but he ignored her, racing up the staircase. She sighed. "Boys…" she looked at her deck case and tapped a button on the side of it, the holographic clock projecting on it, reading 11:30am on the clock. She waved her finger across the screen and typed a message onto the keyboard.

"He's on his way towards you; awaiting your orders." She typed. She hit send and, removed the hair from her eyes. _"Andiamo, _Vento." Amy told her deck Avatar.

Vento materialized from his deck case and his eyes briefly flashed red.

* * *

Kyle made it to the upper floor and looked around. "No sign of them. Let's try this way!" Kyle ran forward.

"Kyle, I might be a little late on this but I figured that it should've been obvious. Are you sure we're not heading into a trap?" Axel pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Kyle asked. "Whoa!" Kyle stopped short, nearly falling into a gaping hole in the middle of the floor.

"That doesn't count as being a trap."

"That's not what I meant anyway." Axel replied.

"Kyle!" Kim's voice echoed through the hollow hallway to their right.

"Kyle!" Maxi's voice followed.

"You heard that right?" Kyle switched gears and flew down the hallway.

"Of course I heard it, but that doesn't change the fact that it could very well be a—"

Kyle and Axel made it to the other side where they saw the cell that Kim and Maxi were trapped in. The duo looked scared and shocked at the same time, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Why…?" Kim started to say. "…Why didn't you turn around?"

"It's a trap!" Maxi screamed at him.

"I told you!" Axel growled at him.

"Less talking, more breaking out!" Kyle ignored them all as he raced to the cell.

"_I'm afraid that I have the key to their cell." _ Amy's voice lingered behind him. He turned back and they all watched as Amy swung the key on her finger. The malicious gleam in her eye spoke for itself as she walked closer to them.

"Amy what's going on?" Kyle demanded.

"Amanda here is my faithful sidekick." Blake walked up to them. "I've been monitoring you guys for a few weeks now and I must say that I'm impressed with your achievement of defeating my sister. I want to see that power first-hand."

The black wolf-like creature materialized on Kyle's shoulder and growled as well, wanting to take on Axel. Axel retaliated with his own growl.

"Let the hunt begin, Fang." Blake said as he held his gloved hand up, it sparking a combination of Purple and Red Kaijudo Energy.

"If I may, Blake…" Amy held her arm across him. "I want to duel him first. He owes me one, after all. Besides, I wouldn't want you to soil your hands with such a weak opponent."

Blake nodded and took a step back. "Ladies first…" he then held his hand up and snapped his fingers, the sound of gears activating in the floor under them. The floor opened and out of it rose a K-Terminal that stood between them.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Kim asked. "She's tough!"

"Kim, have you checked my name on the rankings on the Leaderboards recently?"

"I haven't…"

"Because if you did, then you'd understand why I'm going to win this. My rank on the leaderboards is 46."

"Wait, you're a stronger duelist than she is? Since when?" Maxi said shocked.

"As of last night, when Axel and I were ranking up points with the newbies..." Kyle grinned evilly. "…Can't hurt to get some practice in before you call it a day."

"Kind of ironic for someone trying to make himself out as a hero…" Kim commented, earning a cackle from Jester.

"Rankings don't matter here; only skill." Blake commented. "Demonstrate to me that my made the right decision of joining your team."

Kyle smirked. "Alright; Challenge Accepted! Ready Axel?"

Axel roared as he returned to the deck case. The Case opened and Kyle retrieved his deck.

"Hope you're ready for this Amy, because Axel and I are about to get crazy!"

Amy returned the smirk. "We'll just see about that."

The shields materialized within the terminal as the duo drew their cards.

"DUEL START!" they announced.

* * *

"I'll start;" Amy said as she set light mana to start the duel. "I summon Thunder Cruiser and end my turn."

Thunder Cruiser materialized on her side of the battle zone and flew in a circular pattern, before finally landing in place within the Terminal.

Kyle drew and set Nature mana to start off. "I end my turn."

Amy drew and set Nature mana as well. "I summon Essence Elf. Her ability 'Nature's Gift' activates, allowing her to boost my Thunder Cruiser's power by 1000 power."

Essence elf materialized and held her hands together, as if she was praying. Her body began to radiate in a green aura which enveloped Thunder Cruiser as well.

Kyle drew and set Fire mana. "That's pretty and all, but it's not going to last for long. I summon Drakon Weaponsmith!"

The Dragon-humanoid materialized and unleashed it's war cry towards its two opponents.

Amy, unfazed drew her next card and set it in mana. "I cast Sprout, to gain an extra card in my mana zone. I end my turn." She took the top card and set it into her mana zone, totaling four cards.

Kyle drew and set his third mana. "I'll do the same. I cast Sprout to add the top card to my mana. Then, with my two remaining mana, I summon Essence Elf, which boosts Weaponsmith by 1000 power."

Kyle's Essence Elf materialized on Kyle's side as Weaponsmith felt the added boost within itself.

"Weaponsmith, Break her shield! With Weaponsmith's Powerful Attack +2000, his power is up to 4000 which beats your Thunder cruiser!"

"That may be so, but that doesn't mean that you're getting anything out of it. Cruiser, block!" she ordered it.

Weaponsmith charged Amy's side of the field as cruiser rushed back. Cruiser hit Weaponsmith dead on, carrying it into the air along with it; however, Cruiser used its claws to smash into the nose of the ship, causing it to spark and explode in midair. Weaponsmith landed on its feet, victorious.

Kyle grinned in about the same way that Weaponsmith did. "One nuisance down…"

Amy returned the smile. "So you say." She then drew and set her fifth mana. "I summon Gigahorn Charger!"

Five mana crystals materialized and fused together to form a brown furred ox-like creature with curling gray horns.

"I activate his ability: Call of the Herd!" Amy called out as Gigahorn roared loudly. "His ability allows me to search my deck for any creature with a power of 5000 or more and add it to my hand." She picked her deck up and quickly scanned it. "I'll take Alcadeus, Winged Justice from my deck." She added the revealed card into her hand and shuffled her deck, setting it back onto the terminal. "I end my turn."

"That can't be good…" Kyle said, worried. "Gotta get on the offensive fast." He drew his next card and set it in mana. "I summon Bronze-Arm Tribe!"

Bronze-Arm tribe materialized on Kyle's side as he added an extra mana from his deck.

"Weaponsmith, Break her shield, Ike!"

Weaponsmith lunged forward for a second time, successfully breaking a shield.

The Terminal blew the shield upward and Amy swiped the card from midair. "Shield Blast: Return to the Soil! I send Essence Elf to the mana zone!"

"Crud!" Kyle said as the green vortex took the elf away. "I end my turn…"

Amy smiled. "What's wrong? Don't have your little booster around to protect your creatures from mine? Shame to see that." She then drew and set the drawn card to mana. "Gigahorn, destroy Weaponsmith!"

The beast roared once more and rammed the Drakon, causing it to disperse with little effort.

"Kyle lost two creatures just like that?" Maxi said surprised.

"Now you know how skilled Amy is." Kim commented. It's going to become a nightmare when Alcadeus enters the picture next turn."

"One more chance to turn this around; Afterward, it'll be all downhill for you." Amy said, moving her locks of hair from her eye.

"Says you." Kyle said as he drew. He set the 8th card to mana and revealed the card that he had in his hand. "Let's rock: Bolt-Tail Dragon!"

Amy was taken aback. "Bolt-Tail Dragon…?"

Kyle smirked. "He's a new addition to my deck. Who said that I could only have one trump card?"

The eight crystals aligned themselves in an octagonal pattern as they formed into a giant crimson-colored two-headed dragon with green spikes going down its necks.

"Bolt-Tail has Fast Attack _and_ Double Breaker; in other words, this is going to hurt—A lot! Go Bolt-Tail!"

The dragon roared and extended its various limbs, revealing small cannons on each of them. they all unleashed small gold lasers that incinerated another two of Amy's shields. Neither of them triggered.

"Bronze-Arm Tribe: Break another shield!"

Bronze jumped from Bolt-Tail's back and hurled it's spear towards the 4th shield, leaving Amy with one. This one however, triggered.

"Shield Blast: Root Trap!" She said as she revealed the card.

The shards reformed into vines that constricted Bolt-tail and turned it into mana as well.

"Now I'm angry…" Amy snarled.

Kyle smirked. "Guess there's an ugly side to every beauty after all."

Amy's glove began to spark violently as she drew. Setting her seventh mana, she summoned Alcadeus into the Battle Zone and tapped Gigahorn Charger to attack Bronze-Arm Tribe.

Gigahorn Charger charged Bronze, who attempted to hold the raging beast back. However the fury of the beast was too much for the creature and it was trampled to bits, leaving Kyle with no creatures.

"Try to come back from this…"

"Oh don't worry, I intend to." Kyle drew and smirked. "Like now for example; Break the Chains: Tatsurion the Unchained!" He slammed the card onto the terminal as Axel rose from a fire pillar, roaring in its beastly dragon form.

"Let's get down to business Axel! Howitzer Go!"

Tatsurion aimed its shoulder Gatling gun at Essence Elf and let lose its fire, taking it out.

"Tatsurion the Unchained's Howitzer ability destroys one of your creatures with a power of 4000 or less."

Amy smirked. "If that's all you can do then this duel is as good as mine." She drew and set her 8th mana. "I summon a second Essence Elf, and Starlight Strategist."

The two creatures materialized, with Starlight sending its orbs to subdue Tatsurion.

"Starlight Strategist's Celestial Guide ability allows Amy to tap one of Kyle's creatures if she puts it or another Skyforce Champion into the Battle Zone!" Maxi realized. And with the second Essence Elf, Alcadeus can overpower Tatsurion!"

"Thanks Maxi, I don't need the play-by-play, I can tell when I'm in trouble!" Kyle said annoyed.

"Gigahorn, break his shield!"

Gigahorn roared for a third time and charged ahead, running through one of Kyle's shield.

The shield popped up, with Kyle grabbing it. "No trigger…"

"Alcadeus, attack Tatsurion!" Amy ordered as Alcadeus and Tatsurion locked hands together. As the two trump cards tried to force each other into submission, Alcadeus kicked Tatsurion back and flew upward into the air. Tatsurion aimed its Gatling gun on the winged warrior and unleashed it's fire, but Alcadeus swooped past every blast. Once it regained composure, it aimed its hands in front of it, and unleashed a beam that took out Tatsurion from where it stood, much to Kyle's surprise.

"And now, Alcadeus' Infused with Light Ability activates…" She said as she untapped Gigahorn Charger. "When he attacks, I can untap one of my Level 5 or less creatures, allowing them to attack again; Once more Gigahorn!"

And Gigahorn took the opportunity to ram through another shield, leaving Kyle down to three.

Amy smirked. "How does it feel to be one-sided Kyle? Unpleasant I'm sure."

"On the contrary;" Kyle replied. "Because like you I got a little trick up my sleeve known as a: Shield Blast. I use Rock Bite on Essence Elf!"

Amy's eyes widened as the creature was eaten up by the reforming Shield Shards.

"Now time to end this." Kyle drew and set his tenth mana in his mana zone. "I summon not one, but two Gilaflame the Assaulters!" he smiled as he revealed the two cards in his hand.

Amy's expression was one of shock. "How is that even possible?"

Kyle smirked. "Because, when it comes to saving my team, my creatures have my back. After all, like myself, they are the leaders of the Creatures of Victory drive. And with their allies backing them up, they will always drive us to our goals!"

The duo of Gilaflames materialized with their arms crossed.

"Finish this!" Kyle ordered them. he tapped the first Gilaflame as it shot at mach speed to shatter Amy's final shield. It shot into the air and revealed itself to her, taking her by surprise as to what was under it.

"Gilaflame, Todome—"

"Shield Blast: Stormspark Blast!" Amy interrupted as she revealed the final shield to him.

Kyle grew cold at the sight of the card. "What…?!"

As the second Gilaflame was about to charge, a shadow passed over the duo as they looked up. a orb suddenly materialized and shot down a lightning beam that stunned the second Gilaflame in place.

Kyle growled as the two cards returned to his hands in fustruation.

"I will not lose to the likes of you." Amy said determined. "This turn, will be my last…"

She drew and set her card in mana. "Gigahorn, Break his shield!"

Gigahorn charged and shattered the shield, it shooting to Kyle's hand. "Not a trigger…"

"Alcadeus, Break his final two shields and untap Gigahorn!"

Alcadeus clapped his two hands and held them out, light beams shooting from them and taking out the last two.

"Come on… I need a miracle like now!" Kyle caught both cards and looked at the first one: Fear Fang… then he took a look at the other and sighed."

"You were right…" Kyle said. "This is your last turn."

Amy nodded. "Gigahorn, finish it: Todome—"

"Because you aren't getting a second chance!" Kyle interrupted her. "Shield Blast: Tornado Flame on Gigahorn Charger!"

The flame tornado swooped in and ate up the beast, ridding it once and for all.

"Now my Gilaflames are going to finish this."

"You forget about Starlight Strategist…" Amy mentioned. "He still hasn't attacked yet."

Kyle made the dreaded realization as he looked over to her side and saw the untapped creature remaining.

"…Todomeda!"

Starlight aimed at his empty field and unleashed its power, ending the match.

* * *

"Kyle… lost…" Maxi said surprised. "He was so close…"

"This girl is on an entirely new level…" Kim said astonished.

Blake clapped his hands. "Magnificent show, Amanda..."

"_Grazie_, Sir Blake." Vento bowed.

Amanda scoffed the victorious smirk still on her face. "Child's play…"

Kyle gathered his cards and looked at the rest of the group, a humored smile on his face. "Well that was a great warm-up."

Amanda turned to him. "Excuse me?" she asked, offended by that comment.

"I'm going to have fun facing off against you." He said turning to Blake. "Kettou Da!"

"Kyle, are you nuts?!" Kim asked as if he was stupid. "You barely stood a chance against her and you want to take him on? You have no idea what you're getting yourself into!"

"Kim…" Kyle turned to her, his demeanor suddenly shifting drastically. "Do me a favor and shut up for a minute will you?"

And unexpectedly for her, Kim got quiet, actually feeling fearful of Kyle at that moment, to her shock.

"Just sit tight. Now that I know what we're up against, I guarantee we're all getting out of this mess. This guy doesn't stand a chance against me…" His gloved hand sparked violently

"Oh, is that right? Well then, allow me to demonstrate what you yourself are getting yourself involved in. Yoshi! I accept your challenge!" Blake's glove sparked as well.

Blake walked over to the side where Amy stood moments before as the two deployed their shields.

"Good luck Kyle… you're going to need it." Kim whispered to herself, afraid of what impending trouble will come out of this duel

"DUEL START!" they both announced once more as their shields deployed…


	4. Fury of the Evos

Chapter 4: Fury of the Evos

_**[Tokyo, Japan 2016…]**_

The Tokyo dome erupted in applause and cheering as the giant holographic shield shards shattered to bits, not fazing the young man standing before them. The Caucasian teen moved the brown hair from his eye and smirked at his opponent, a dark skinned boy who's baseball cap hid his eyes.

"Fighter Dual Fang, Attack Genji Double Cross Blastdragon!" The dark skinned boy ordered as the Giant horned feline creature roared and lunged forward to clash blades with the lean red dragon samurai warrior. Their blades clashed, but the blonde-haired dragon was no match for the Beast Warrior. He took one fatal hit and dispersed into red data that faded away and sent the crowd in an uproar.

"AMAZING! Now this is what I'd expect from the two strongest teams in the world! Team Kaijudo Generation, fighting their way through tournament after tournament, and not only that, but saving our lives and making headlines throughout the four corners of the globe! Facing off against their predecessors: Team Kaijudo Monarchs, the first Kaijudo Masters to ever set foot on this glorious World of Duel Masters… Can you all show how much you fans out there are enjoying the display of pure excitement that these two leaders are demonstrating?!"

The crowd responded with an erupting roar of excitement, causing both duelists to smirk.

"You've come quite far in the last year C.J." The brown-haired boy said. "To think you started out as a newbie at the Kaijudo Arts. And now a year later… you're inches away from becoming an S-Rank. I'm extremely proud of you; all of you. We all are."

C.J. smirked. "That means a lot coming from you, Jason. After all that we've been through…" He set his hand on the remaining fire card on the Red and Green card that sat on the K-Terminal.

"Finish it." Jason nodded. "Your journey to S-Rank… ends here."

The boy nodded. "Super Dragon Machine Dolzark… Todomeda!"

The Robotic Dragon roared and extended its chest forward, the Dragon Head opening and unleashing a beam of blue energy at his opponent. The wave passed through him, the duelist unharmed as the creature disappeared and the projectors powered down. The crowd roaring at the results of the duel as the boy held his fist up in victory.

A young sixteen year old Blake cheered with the crowd, excited as well of the turn of events that took place. He was a huge fan of Team KG, following them since the NYC Duel Circuit Tournament a year prior when they made their debut in the Tournament scene. And now, they became S-Ranks… The Title of Kaijudo Master endowed upon them, becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of Duelist around the globe. He would've given anything to have the same opportunity as they received.

As he watched the five duelists' wave at the crowds and receive their medals and trophy, he made it a goal to be on that stage someday…

* * *

_**[Present Time…]**_

* * *

"You think Kyle can beat your brother?" Maxi asked Kim.

"I don't know…" She replied worried. "I haven't seen him in over four years… There's no telling how much stronger he's gotten since I last seen him."

* * *

Kyle grunted at the sight of the holographic spiral of flames devour his essence elf as his Drakon Weaponsmith landed back from breaking Blake's first shield.

Blake returned it with a smirk of triumph. "A true duelist recognizes the traps and doesn't foolishly walk into them. He drew and set his 3rd card, darkness mana.

"I summon Gigastand."

The two darkness mana and the sole fire mana materialized and reformed into a gray gorilla-like monster with two horns, swamp-green fur and decaying flesh.

"Drakon Weaponsmith, destroy his Drakon Weaponsmith!" Blake tapped his creature as his creature nodded and lunged forward towards Kyle.

The two creatures traded claws with each other, but with Blake's creature's powerful attack ability triggering, it was able to overpower Kyle's creature. Blake's creature sent a spin kick into Kyle's the ladder flying backwards. It finally lunged forward and slammed it into the virtual ground, causing it to disperse into data.

Kyle moved his creature into the grave and looked back at Blake.

"I hope you don't think this is all it takes to beat me, right?" Kyle told him.

"I certainly hope not." Blake replied. "After your demonstration in your match against Amanda, I expect to see you show me everything you have to offer… even if it's clearly not enough to beat me."

Kyle grunted. "We'll just see about that!" He drew and set nature mana, totaling four.

"I summon Bronze-arm tribe and send the top card of my deck into my mana zone!"

Bronze-Arm Tribe materialized into the battle zone, and readied its pitchfork and shield to make a move on Blake's creatures.

Blake drew his next card and set it. "I summon Blastforge Slaver, and Jetflame Bodyguard."

The two fire creatures materialized, Slaver resembling Weaponsmith but more muscle-toned and slightly darker-skinned, while Jetflame Bodyguard resembling a lava-covered lizard man.

"Weaponsmith, break his shield!" he ordered it, as Weaponsmith broke from the group and slashed a shield.

The card popped up in Kyle's hand taking a glance at it.

"_Gilaflame! This is perfect. Now all I need to do is—"_

"Gigastand, break his shield! And use your Dread Gaze to discard a card from his hand!"

Gigastand roared an eerie, abnormal howl that broke a shield. Before that, Kyle shuffled his hand and threw the top card of the two-card pile into the discard pile. To his horror, it was Gilaflame.

"Shoot!" Kyle said, feeling himself return to his disadvantage. The shield shot up afterward and he looked at this one. "Shield Blast: I cast Sprout and add the top card of my deck into my mana zone!" he took the card and flipped it, revealing Roaming Bloodmane.

"I end my turn." Blake said.

* * *

"Kyle's in a tight spot with that Gigastand. He won't be able to keep a hand if it keeps being emptied by Gigastand." Amanda added her input as she leaned on the cage with her arms crossed.

"Who asked you?" Kim snarled.

"I was talking out loud…" Amy replied.

"She's right though…" Maxi supported. "Whatever card Kyle would intend on using, is going to go to waste. He would either turn it into mana or let it be discarded."

Kim rolled her eyes. "How did I know you'd take her side?"

Tech materialized from maxi's deck case. "Tech thinks that Kim is smarter than average cookie by 20%."

Kim grew a smirked. "At least the rinse cup has my back."

* * *

Kyle drew his next card and a wave of relief washed over him. "You pull through just when I need you!" he tossed his remaining card in his hand into mana and tapped all seven cards. "Break the Chains: Tatsurion the Unchained!"

Tatsurion materialized into the battle zone and locked his turret on Gigastand.

"Howitzer, go! Destroy Gigastand!"

Tatsurion unleashed the flurry of bullets that made the chimera crumble into bits.

"Bronze-Arm tribe, break his shield!"

Bronze pulled its arm back and threw the pitchfork into one of the shields breaking it.

The card popped into Blake's hand and he added it to his hand.

"I end my turn there." Kyle then looked down at the Terminal where the smaller Tatsurion looked back. "Let's turn this duel around Axel!"

It nodded and looked back at Blake's remaining creatures, letting out a massive roar only a Dragon Beast could make.

* * *

"And there's our answer." Amy said becoming more interested in the duel. "Go Kyle!" she then turned to the two who were staring at her, more confused than ever.

"I never said I was rooting for Blake." She defended herself, with slightly red cheeks.

"How are you related to my brother…?" Kim asked her.

Amy stood quiet, trying to come up with a response. "It's a long story…"

"Trust me, we have time." Maxi added.

* * *

Blake drew his card and set mana, tapping all five of his cards.

"Jetflame Bodyguard… Evolve into Blastforge Captain!" he set the card on top of his Jetflame Bodyguard as the five mana crystals materialized overhead. They joined together to form one crystal, resembling red-colored radiating flower pedals.

Jetflame looked up and reached for it, feeling the energy coursing through it. Its entire body lit up in a bright light as it transformed into a taller, leaner red Drakon. His right arm was covered in a giant four-barreled cannon and his right arm a small cannon with his fingers covered in iron claws. The Red Evo Crystal hovered around him as he fixated his eyes on Tatsurion.

"I didn't see that coming…" Kyle admitted.

Blake smirked. "I've noticed that you don't use Evolution Creatures in your deck. Why is that so?"

Kyle grunted. "That's none of your business."

"I noticed that too…" Amy noted.

"Kyle has some animosity against Evo creatures…" Maxi explained. "It's a long story."

"It amazes me that an A-Rank such as yourself doesn't use Evos…" Blake commented. "…You only sealed your fate. Blastforge Captain: Craterize!

The Captain aimed its large cannon at the two creatures but then locked its sight on Bronze. It launched four missiles, one that launched the vulnerable creature into the air, with the remaining three missiles hitting it and forcing it to become green data. It then aimed for one of Kyle's shields and shot at it, breaking it.

The card shot into Kyle's hand and he suddenly got an idea on how to rid himself of the Evo.

"Slaver, Break another shield!"

The larger of the duo roared and ran forward, shattering another shield.

The shield popped up and it made a smile grow on Kyle's face. "Just what I was hoping for; Shield Blast: Rock Bite on Weaponsmith!" he revealed the card to his opponent.

The ground opened and the rock head swallowed the creature whole.

Blake, for the first time in the match scowled at the sight of it, with Kyle having a familiar smile of triumph written on his face.

"No matter." Blake's demeanor returned. "Just prolonging the inevitable..."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that." Kyle said as he drew his next card. He set his 8th mana and tapped five.

"I summon Raging Goliant!" Kyle said as he set the Nature creature into the Battle Zone.

The crystals materialized and formed a slim green beast warrior with beetle-motif armor and twin gold-colored crossbow gauntlets. It hovered next to Tatsurion as said creature began to glow green.

"You have your power booster, I have mine." Kyle noted. "Raging Goliant gives all of my Beast Kin +2000 power due to its Pack Leader ability, adding to Tatsurion makes him 8000 in total power!"

Blake snickered, knowing where this was leading.

"Tatsurion, Take out Blastforge Captain!"

Tatsurion howled and ran towards the Captain, who began firing at Tatsurion as it ran towards him. Tatsurion got close to him and slashed its cannon to bits before aiming it's howitzer pointblank in its chest. After sending a set of fire bullets into it Blastforge captain flew back and dispersed into red data. Tatsurion then set its sights on Slaver.

"His Who's Next ability activates; Whenever he wins a Battle for the first time in a turn, he can untap." Kyle untapped his card and tapped it again. "Once more, attack Slaver!"

Tatsurion roared and charged slaver, his head this time igniting in flames. He rammed the creature and despite his resistance, Tatsurion overcame the creature with very little effort, cleaning out Blake's Battle Zone.

"I end my turn." Kyle said, the thought of being in the clear advantage bringing him joy.

Blake drew and dropped his card into mana. "I end my turn."

"What's the matter? Dead draw?" Kyle asked as he drew his next card. "Tatsurion, Double Break!"

Tatsurion aimed his gun and shot down two shields, reducing Blake's numbers to 1.

The two shields popped into the air and Kyle swipped his hands across to catch them.

"It's not wise to be overconfident…" he smirked. "Shield Blast: Terror Pit on Raging Goliant!"

The shield Shards glimmered and turned into the familiar dark hands that crushed the beast kin.

Kyle grunted at the sight, but his expression turned sour when he realized that he hit _another_ shield blast that Blake revealed.

"Shield Blast: Return from Beyond! With this card I can bring back one level 4 or less non-evolution creature from my graveyard. And I choose Gigastand!"

A giant red skeleton rose from the ground under Tatsurion and clasped its claws on its ribcage. Pulling them apart, a purple vortex began to generate as Gigastand walked out with its familiar decaying body.

"I thought I was rid of you…" Kyle said disappointed.

Blake smirked at the sight. "Not quite… Like myself my creatures all have the ability to come back from the dead…" he then drew and set the facedown card hovering over Gigastand.

"Gigastand, it's time for you to reveal your true form: Evolve into Hydra Medusa!"

Gigastand howled as the purple Evo crystal descended in front of it, said object illuminating it's body and mutating it into a giant purple chimera. Mouths covering its entire body and two tentacle-like heads extending from the body, one resembling a dragon and the other a white-masked humanoid creature, possibly a Dark Lord.

"Medusa, Eradicate Tatsurion the Unchained!"

Medusa roared and unleashed a purple sonic wave that shot through Tatsurion. It's eyes widened and it fell back, slowly disappearing.

"TATSURION!" Kyle shouted in disbelief.

Blake shook his head. "How pathetic… Medusa, Break his shield!"

Medusa followed his command and attacked the shield with another sonic wave. It broke and shot to Kyle's hand, leaving them even at 1 shield a piece.

"If you like, we can quit now and save you the pain of losing once again…" Blake suggested.

Kyle glared at him. "Bite me…" He drew his next card and tapped Four. "Gilaflame the Assaulter!"

Gilaflame materialized and didn't hesitate to charge forward to break Blake's last shield.

"Next turn, it's over…"

"Indeed. But who said it would be your turn?" Blake replied.

Kyle was taken aback by that comment.

Blake drew his next card and he tapped six mana; "I summon… Dark Scaradorable…"

Kyle's expression grew dire as he watched the dark wolf-like creature materialize on Blake's side.

"It's… the same eyes…" he said freaked out.

"Go, Terrifying Gaze! It's an ability that breaks one of your shields."

Dark Scaradorable's eyes lit up as the shield cracked slowly before shattering into shards.

The card bounced into the air and landed next to Kyle on the K-terminal, revealing it to be Tornado Flame.

"Judging by your expression, you're too frightened to activate that Shield Blast… Hydra Medusa, Todomeda!"

Medusa roared and unleashed one more sonic wave, ending the duel.

* * *

Kyle dropped to his knees, the fear of his nightmare haunting him all over.

Blake turned to Amy. "Take them out."

Amy nodded and unlocked the lock on the cage, the duo flying out of the cage and getting to Kyle.

"Are you ok?! What's wrong?" Maxi asked.

"Those eyes…" Kyle whispered.

Kim looked at her brother and snarled. "You did something to him…"

"I have done no such thing. Maybe he's feeling the effects of a bad nightmare or something." He smirked.

"You're unbelievable…" she added.

Kyle forced himself up, getting Maxi to latch off.

"Blake… I swear we'll have a rematch. This isn't the last time you'll face me, understand?"

"I refuse to fight weak duelists such as you. It's a waste of time and effort on my part."

"Then I'll work to become stronger!" He shot back. "I don't care I won't rest until I defeat your Evolution Creatures!"

"Oh, now that's what I like to hear…" Blake said excited. "Alright then… Become stronger and then we'll have our rematch."

"Deal…" Kyle nodded.

"No deal!" Kim intervened. "Kyle, you have no clue how dangerous my brother is he's—"

"A very strong opponent that I would love to go up against once I perfect my deck. Mind helping with that?" he asked her.

"You sure…? Why don't you ask your eye-candy over there?" Kim pointed to Amy.

"Because I want you to help me…?" Kyle replied. "I didn't ask her, or Maxi for that matter.

Kim rolled her eyes with her cheeks turning slightly red. "Fine…"

"Oh and Maxi, Amy, you guys can tag along for the ride as well. This is a team effort, right?"

"Of course bro!" Maxi said easily.

Amanda on the other hand, was caught off guard by the acceptance. "I'm sorry…?"

"You're a part of team Victory Drive, remember? Well, technically you are anyway."

"How can you be so easygoing…?" Amy asked, not understanding what's going through Kyle's head at the moment.

"Because I have a lot of patience, everyone's safe and sound, and I have a new goal, one that involves a skilled duelist to help make happen."

"Well in that case… you don't need my help then. You already have Kim for that part."

"But I don't know much about the Nature Civilization so…" Kim intervened. "I insist…"

Blake smirked and turned, walking out of the room unnoticed.

"That kid… he just might… no, _they_ just might be what I need…"

* * *

With everything settled, Kim and Maxi safe and sound, the four members of Victory Drive returned to Kyle's house that afternoon, going over Kyle's deck. Maxi, Kim and Amy all stood around the deck carefully examining every inch of it. After a minute they all turned back to him and gave him a unanimous decision.

"It needs Evos!" they said in unison.

"Nuh-uh no way! Maxi, you know full well why I wouldn't use them."

"Oh dude, come on! Get over it it's been 3 years!"

"What's with him and Evos?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well… when we first got into the game, some vets trashed his first deck with evolution creatures and they were real jerks about it. On that note, he has a bit of a hate towards them since they almost got him to quit the game all together. Up to this point he's managed to get to his A-Rank without using them.

"Amazing…" Kim noted, impressed.

"But now time's changed. I don't think I can beat Blake with the deck I'm using now…"

"So… heed our advice and use Evos then?" Maxi suggested.

Kyle sighed. "Fine… got any specific ones in mind?"

"Well… let's start with this. What civilizations do you plan on using?" Amy started.

"Well Fire obviously since I have Axel here." He held up Tatsurion the Unchained.

Maxi nodded. "And I'm assuming that you're keeping Nature for the Mana accel too right?"

Kyle nodded.

Kim pondered the two suggestions and continued to examine the deck. Her eyesight locked on Bolt-Tail and it hit her.

"SABER-BOLT!" She exclaimed.

"Saber what…?" Kyle looked at her oddly.

"A Saber-Bolt deck…" Allison, Kyle's sister said as she walked through the living room. "It uses a Beast Kin engine to ramp up mana to summon Bolt-Tail Dragon as a finisher, using Bronze-Arm Sabertooth as an early beatstick; Simple, fun and easy to build."

"I like the sound of that!" Kyle nodded. "Even though it involves Evos…"

"Oh get off of that will you?" Allison scolded. "Mastering Evos will make you a better duelist in the long run. Holding a grudge against some won't accomplish anything."

"The real problem is that Saber-Bolt decks normally have a 3rd Civilization to support it." Amy said pondering the thought. "Which one would you want to use between Light, Water and Dark…?"

"Which are the two combinations that are used the most?"

"Water and Dark, why?" Maxi replied.

"Light it is then!" Kyle exclaimed.

"How about…" Kim started to say. "Let's start you off with Aqua Saber-Bolt, just so you can get used to the whole tri-civ deck aspect. It's the easiest combination, what with its draw power and all."

"Fine…" Kyle sulked.

"Hey, I don't have to help, you know." She told him. "You can at least be a bit more grateful."

"Let's see if the deck can actually run, miss 'Zero and Two.'" Kyle joked.

"Excuse me!? Need I remind you that I let you win our match?"

"And not for nothing Kyle, but you lost twice today…" Maxi further added.

"No one asked you…" he snarled at him.

Amy and Allison looked at each other and back at the trio arguing with one another.

"Um… let them know I had to leave, OK?" Amy said standing up from the couch.

"Already…? It's only 6pm, stay for dinner."

"Trust me, I love to, but I have a big day tomorrow… rain check for sure though."

Allison nodded. "Have a good night then."

Amy nodded and grabbed her bag, heading out the door.

As Allison looked at the trio going at it she turned and headed upstairs to her room, leaving them to continue…

* * *

The next day, the trio all walked into their 3rd period class, Math, tired from the night prior. As it turned out, they spent more time arguing then actually deckbuilding…

"Last night was a waste of time…" Kim yawned as she took her seat.

"Thank god it's math. I can actually fall asleep and have a legit reason to." Kyle leaned his head on the desk.

"Um dude… might wanna hold off on that nap…" Maxi said.

Kyle opened his eyes and they widened shocking him by the sight at the front of the room.

"Class, I'd like you to meet a new student in our class: Amanda Earhart; she's a new student who just recently moved here from Florence, so please treat her with the upmost respect and welcome her into our beloved school.

Amy smiled as the guys in the classroom locked sights on their new object of affection and the girls as well, mainly as a new rival.

"Nice to meet you all…" she smiled.

"Well then… Definitely didn't see this one coming…" Kyle said, leaning back in his chair…


	5. Walk on the Wild Side

Chapter 5: Walk on the Wild Side

"Unbelievable…" Kim rolled her eyes as she, Maxi and Kyle sat at their lunch table watching Amy be followed by the crowd of fanboys following after her. "Been at this school for 3 hours and she already has fanboys trailing after her."

"Well she is one of the top 50 A-ranks in the world." Maxi noted.

"So are we!" Kim replied.

"Well, in risk of my shoulder being dislocated, she is eye-candy."

Kim simply glared at Kyle, causing him to shrink back in fear. "I'm just saying."

Kim rolled her eyes. "So why aren't you two following her?"

"Why you ask? Simple: There's a pretty girl who needs our attention more than ever." Kyle smiled at her.

Kim noticed the smile and turned her blushing face away. "Where'd that come from?" She asked surprised.

"Haha, just messing with you." Kyle laughed, earning him a direct hit to the shin from the raven-haired duelist.

"But seriously though, what was up with your Brother yesterday?" Maxi mentioned.

"Your guess is as good as mine. This whole time I thought he was dead and suddenly he kidnaps me and you. I haven't seen him since, let alone know where he'd might be." Kim explained as she recovered from the embarrassment. "All I know is that he's changed a lot since the last time I've seen him."

"Hi guys." Amy sighed as she sat down at the table. "OK Guys that's enough autographs, for now please. I wanna spend some time with my friends okay?"

The group of freshman sighed in disappointment and set their sights on Kyle and Maxi before walking off.

"What did we do to get ten pairs of the evil-eye?" Kyle asked Maxi.

"Be friends with the Wind Princess." Maxi replied. "That's what we did."

"Amy I have a question." Kim said.

"What's up?" she asked laying her head on her crossed arms on the table. "Man, I'm used to having people follow me but a bunch of fourteen-year olds wanting to take me out is a new one. I don't think I like it."

"How do you know my brother?"

Her question made Amy sit up, grabbing the attention of the other two.

"I told you already; it's a long and complicated story." She replied, as if she didn't want to answer.

"You two aren't in some relationship, are you?"

"What? No of course not!" She replied.

"Then what's so complicated about it?" She asked again. "Tell me what you know about my brother!"

"Whoa Kim, calm down." Kyle stepped in.

"Calm down? For four years my brother's been gone out of my life. How do you expect me to calm down when I just found out that he's still alive and that she knows something about it?"

"Erm… got a point there."

"It's really hard to explain." Amy answered. "I can't tell you everything."

"You can tell me enough. How do you know my brother?"

Amy took a minute to collect her thoughts. "We met at a tournament about a year ago. We met in the finals and I managed to beat him but barely. Afterward he commended me on my skills and gave me an offer."

"An offer?" Kyle repeated.

Amy nodded. "Here's where it gets complicated. He told me that he—"

"OH MY GOD IT'S ROBBIE TASOGARE!"

The quartet looked up and watched as the army of swooning girls in the lunch room flew towards the doorway of the lunchroom as the star quarterback of the football teams walked in.

Kyle groaned and facepalmed himself. "Dear god why?"

"Something the matter Kyle?" Amy asked.

"Robbie Tasogare and Kyle have been bitter rivals since preschool." Maxi informed. "Everything from Video Games, to sports to even dueling those two have been trying to top one another."

"Even football?" Kim asked looking over her shoulder.

"He's kinda cute." Amy said, feeling an involuntary attraction to him.

"He was picked over me when we tried out for the team back in freshman year. Since then he's been a school celebrity. You should know Kim."

"Don't remind me. He asked me out a number of times in the past. Too bad for him I refuse to date arrogant airheads."

"Ladies, Ladies, please no autographs for now." He smiled, shaking off his white jacket. "There's one special lady I want to see."

The girls looked at one another, looking for the one girl that wasn't going after him at the moment. They then found themselves all staring at the sole populated table in the room with the only two girls left.

"There's fifty pair of evil-eyes pointed in my direction isn't there?" Kim asked, taking a sip of her iced tea Snapple bottle.

"Fifty-one." Maxi pointed to Amy, who was trying hard to resist giving in.

"Hello there, Kim-chan!" Robbie said strolling over to her, with the group of girls towing behind. "Did you miss me?"

"Get away from me." Kim turned her back.

"Aww Kim-chan, you're so cute when you pretend to ignore me." He said walking around her.

"I'm not pretending." She said turning her back in the other direction.

"Oh yes you are. After all, who can resist me?"

"A toothbrush for one." She snarled, causing Kyle to hold back in laughter.

"My breath is always smelling minty-fresh for you."

"Oh in that case it's probably you I'm smelling. When was the last time you took a shower?"

"Just came from gym, smelling great mind you." He corrected. "Of course because I wanted to make sure I was just perfect for my kim-chan." He smiled again.

"Oh man this is just too much." Kyle stepped in. "Come on dude, it's obvious she's not into you, just give it a rest."

Robbie looked over and smirked at Kyle. "Kyle-kun, what's up bro?"

"Nothing much. Watching you crash and burn for the 8th time this month." He replied shrugging his shoulder. "You?"

"Wearing her down with my charms, and following the news in the Dueling world. Heard that you guys are looking to enter the D-Fighters Tournament."

"Point being?"

"You guys will get eaten alive, that's my point."

Kyle leaned forward. "Is that right?"

Robbie nodded. "Dude, we've known each other since pre-school. And I've beaten you in everything, especially dueling. Trust me, if you can't beat me, then what shot do you have out in the big leagues?"

Axel materialized and hopped onto the table. "Don't underestimate us."

"Tatsurion the Unchained?" Robbie raised his eyebrow. "Nice find you got there. Still, that's not enough to beat me."

"Is that a challenge?" Kyle asked.

"Maybe…" a green energy stream traveled up to his shoulder transforming into a Tatsurion as well, but with a more ferocious and savage appearance. "That is, if you think you can stand up to My Bestial Rage Tatsurion."

"Axel and I can handle whatever you throw at us. Besides, this Tatsurion was a gift from Kim."

Robbie's once confident demeanor came to a sudden halt, shifting to a more shocked one. "_A gift?"_

Kim turned over to him. "What are you doing?!" she whispered.

"Yup, I was low on cash one day and she bought it for me, isn't that right, 'sweetheart?'" Kyle winked at her, causing his three teammates to all give him equal expressions of shock.

"Tech thinks Kyle has gone 100% coo coo for cocoa puffs." the reef prince said through Maxi's deck case.

Robbie cleared his throat and nodded. "I see. Well then, this makes things even more interesting. Tell you what. We'll duel tonight at TCG Towers at 7pm. You win, I'll do something for you. If I win…"

"I do something for you right?"

"More specific than that Kyle-kun. I want Kim."

"Kyle don't—"

"Deal!"

"Great, 7pm tonight. Make sure you bring your team with you. I intend on rubbing this in your face."

As he finished his sentence, the bell rung signaling the teens to report to their class. Robbie got up and walked off, the teen girls following after him.

"Well then. That went well." Kyle said proudly.

"Um Kyle…?" Amy spoke up. "There's two problems you might want to consider…"

"CRAP! My deck isn't done!" Kyle realized as he had the cards scattered all over his coffee table that afternoon after school.

"Forget your deck! What was up with that 'Sweetheart' stunt you pulled back there moron!?" Kim grabbed him by his shirt collar and was getting ready to shake him to death if not for Amy and Maxi getting between them.

"I'm sorry! It sorta was a spontaneous thing. You know, how like on TV main character pretends to be in a relationship with the love object of their rival to help the love object get out of the sights of the rival. So it sorta backfired… But I can fix it by beating him in a duel."

"With what deck genius?" Maxi yawned.

"With yours of course!"

"Say wha?"

"Come on Maxi, let me borrow your deck."

"Dude, you don't know how to use my deck."

"First time for anything."

"Why don't we just get Maxi to duel?" Amy suggested. "After all, if we do that, you can learn some more about both the Water and Light Civilizations."

"Besides, as your best friend I have to clean up whatever stupid mistakes you make." Maxi added. "Don't worry, I got this covered."

"Oh dude you rock! So glad that you're on my team!"

Maxi smiled at Kyle in response. "Just leave everything to me."

As the Sun began to set, Robbie sat on the bleachers in the school's football field, looking out at his teammates playing catch with one another. Practice was over and the young boy found himself in deep thought about the upcoming events.

"Yo Robbie! We're heading to Subway for some food, come on!" His teammates called out to him.

Robbie shook his head. "Sorry guys, gotta take a rain check."

"Oh yeah." The second of the four members replied. "You have that card game to play tonight with those geeks right?"

"Yeah that's right; what of it?"

"Aren't you a little old for that?"

"You're never too old for something you have a passion for." Robbie replied confidently. "I'd gladly give up my football dream to pursue a career as a Duelist, just as much as anyone of you would do anything to pursue a career in the NFL."

His teammates found it hilarious. "Whatever you say dude. We'll catch you tomorrow."

Robbie waved to his teammates as they walked out of the field. He then looked at his watch, reading 6:15pm on the digital read out. "Well then my old rival, it's time to get to it." He opened his deck case and pulled out the 40-card deck of cards, looking at the front of the deck. The front card was a Nature Evolution Creature, with the picture resembling a purple spiked beast with flaming spike shooting from its body. "Soon, after I prove myself… you'll just have to accept me… Kim-chan."

7pm rolled around and the Quartet walked inside the busy game store finding Robbie awaiting them at one of the nearby K-Terminals.

"Glad you could make it." He told them as they approached him. "Ready to do this?"

"Yeah about that…" Kyle began.

"We were working on a new deck for him to use but it's not ready yet." Maxi interrupted. "So instead, I'm going to duel in his place."

Robbie looked down at the slightly shorter than average teen and looked back at Kyle. "You're kidding right?"

"Dude do you want to make this happen or not?" Kyle asked him. "I'm sorry this was last minute but we ran out of options. Trust me though, Maxi's a much better duelist than I am."

"Is that right…?" he turned back to him. "Think you can provide me a challenge runt?"

"The question is can you?" Maxi replied adjusting his glasses.

Robbie smirked. "Well then, Kettou da!"

"Yoshi, I accept!" Maxi answered strapping on his white and blue glove, his hand sparking with Blue and Yellow Kaijudo Energy.

After seeing that faint glimpse of A-Rank potential, Robbie was more than interested to see what Maxi had to offer. More so than what he wanted to see from Kyle. The two of them went across from each other on both sides of the K-terminal and deployed their shields.

"WIZ KID: CONFIRMED!"

"SAVAGE STRIDER: CONFIRMED!"

Once they drew their hands, they took a deep breath and got ready to declare:

"DUEL START!"

Robbie went first, setting Nature mana and tapping it, generating the emerald mana crystal.

"I summon Prickleback!" he said as he set the card into the Battle Zone.

A blue porcupine-like humanoid with orange fur and purple spikes materialized in the battle zone.

Maxi drew and set water mana. "In that case… I'll go ahead and summon Cyber Sprite."

A small liquid humanoid with circuits going throughout its body materialized in the battle zone. Its blank eyes and white smile was accompanied with a light laughter that resembled a static version of Razorkinder's cackle.

"A blocker for an attacker… not bad." Robbie commented as he drew. He set more Nature mana and tapped two. "I cast Sprout and with it I add the top deck to my mana zone. With that I end my turn."

Robbie moved the top card of his deck and set it in mana, revealing it to be Moonhowler Tribe. Maxi drew and set Light mana afterward.

"I summon Chasm Entangler." Maxi said, setting the light blocker into his battle zone.

"You know, you won't be able to attack if you keep dropping blockers like that."

The topaz crystal materialized and reformed into a seahorse-shaped light creature with a gold armored head and green tentacle-like appendages extending from its tail. It hovered next to Cyber sprite, both creatures building a wall of defense for the sole prickleback on the opposing side.

Robbie drew his next card and once again set Nature mana. "Guess I should go on the offensive now." He then turned to Kyle. "Take notes Kyle-Kun. I evolve Prickleback into Bronze-arm Sabertooth!"

The four emerald crystals fused together reforming into an Evo Crystal. Prickle back grabbed onto it and absorbed its power, transforming into a creature twice its size. Bronze-arm Sabertooth was a tiger-like beast-man with four arms and a bright red cape. It roared as it landed into the Battle Zone, growling at this two prey: Sprite and Entangler.

"Bronze-Arm Sabertooth: Double Break!"

The Beast-man roared and launched itself on its hind paws, going after Maxi's shields.

"Chasm blocks!" Maxi countered, tapping his light blocker.

Chasm flew in front of the shields, extending its green tentacles, forming a shield which blocked the Beast, but ultimately made Chasm disperse into data.

"I end my turn." Robbie stated as Sabertooth landed back on his side.

"So that's Bronze-arm Sabertooth…" Kyle commented.

Amy nodded. "A Level 4 Double Breaker. It's 'One with Nature' Ability allows it to become mana when it's banished."

Maxi drew and set his 3rd mana. "I summon Aqua Senechal and end my turn."

Aqua Senechal materialized in place of chasm as Robbie drew his next card. He set his 5th mana and tapped four of them.

"I cast Reap and Sow; with it, I look at the top two cards of my deck. I add one to my hand, and send the other to my mana zone." He drew the two cards and studied both briefly, tossing the Bronze-Arm tribe into his mana zone. "Sabertooth, Double Break!"

Sabertooth roared and leaped forward for a second time, successfully smashing two shields.

The terminal shot both cards upward and Maxi swiped them both from the air. "Shield Blast: Crystal Memory! With this card I can search my deck for a card and add it to my hand."

Maxi picked his deck up and quickly skimmed it, choosing a card and setting it in his hand. After shuffling it, he set it back on the table.

"Wonder how much help that's going to do you."

Maxi drew and set mana. "We'll just see. I evolve Cyber Sprite into Emperor Neuron! Also, I'll go ahead and summon a second Sprite."

Cyber Sprite watched as the blue Evo Crystal descended upon it as it felt itself transform into a Blue humanoid creature with a massive right arm.

"Aqua Senechal, Attack ike! And with his 'Choten's Advisor' ability, whenever he attacks, I can draw a card."

Senechal dashed forward, its arms reforming into ice blades. It slashed one of the shields as it shattered, popping up into Robbie's hand.

"Emperor Neuron, Break his shield! With his 'Extract Data' ability, he allows me to draw a card as well."

Emperor Neuron held its massive arm into the air and generated a blue energy ball, which it then launched at one of Robbie's shields. Neither of the shields triggered and Maxi ended his turn, evening the score to 3-3."

"Nice one bro!" Kyle said.

Maxi smirked. "Told ya I got this covered."

"Don't get too happy. The worse is yet to come." Robbie said as he drew his next card. "I cast Breach the Veil. With it I can look at the top 5 cards of my deck, choose a creature and add it to my hand. Afterward, I send the remaining four cards to the bottom in any order." He explained as he drew the five cards. "I choose… Bestial Rage Tatsurion."

Maxi nodded, unfazed by the reveal.

Robbie added the card to his hand and sent the remaining cards on the bottom of the deck. "Sabertooth, Attack Neuron!"

"Sprite blocks!"

Sabertooth growled at the Evolved Cyber Lord and dashed ahead, but the smaller sprite intercepted the attack instead. Cyber Sprite dispersed, protecting its Emperor.

"One less blocker to worry about." Robbie said. "Your move."

Maxi drew and set mana. "I cast Predict. With this card, I can look and rearrange the top five cards of my deck." Maxi drew the five cards and reorganized them, setting them back on the deck. "Now with my remaining mana, I cast Recharge. This spell allows me to add the top card of my deck into my shields face-down." He then moved the top card next to his three remaining shields, as a new teal-colored shield materialized.

"Must admit, that was a clever move."

"They don't call me the 'Wiz Kid' for nothing." Maxi replied.

"That's not going to be enough to defend you I'm afraid."

"Wanna bet? Neuron, Break his shield Ike!" Maxi said, drawing a card.

Neuron charged another ball of energy and launched it at the shield.

"Senechal, Break another shield!" Maxi said, drawing one more card.

Senechal mimicked Neuron, by making a ball of energy and throwing it at the shield.

"Shield Blast: Root Trap. I send Neuron to your mana zone." Robbie revealed, as the vines broke from under Neuron and crushed it into two mana crystals.

"I end my turn." Maxi said calmly.

Robbie drew and set mana. "Alright Hulk; it's time to Smash. Roar the Savage Beast: Bestial Rage Tatsurion!"

The Tatsurion materialized and roared like a mad beast.

"Sabertooth, Attack Senechal!"

Sabertooth ran forward and sent a flurry of punches into Senechal, causing the Cyber lord to drop and disperse into data.

"There goes your draw power."

"Don't worry, I anticipated this." Maxi said confidently.

"You anticipated this?" Robbie raised an eyebrow.

Maxi nodded and drew. He set one of the other cards in his hand in mana and tapped all eight of his mana. "I summon Cyber Sprite, Chasm Entangler and Gran Gure Tower Keeper."

The two previous blockers materialized side by side, with the third, a Giant Spaceship of a creature flew overhead.

"Predict allowed me to rearrange the top five cards of my deck." Maxi began. "Recharge sent the first card to shields, and Neuron and Senechal sent the 2nd and 3rd to my hand. The fourth one, I just drew."

"So the first card was a Shield Blast, while the ladder three were blockers."

Maxi nodded. "I never said the first shield was a Blast."

"Well what else would you send there?"

"I don't know, maybe an evolution creature to turn the duel in my favor. Maybe I couldn't use it and I sent it to shields to by myself time for it to gain usefulness. Ever think of that?"

Robbie hesitated, not considering that factor.

"And just as according to plan, you sent my Neuron to my mana, giving me the extra push I needed."

"Wait, how'd you know I would do that?"

"Because, a 5000-powered Creature such as Neuron is a bigger threat than Senechal, a 2000-powered creature. Get rid of the bigger threat as soon as possible and then just get rid of the smaller one without effort. I'm right aren't I?"

"Told you he was a better duelist than me." Kyle told him. "Maxi's known to be three steps ahead of his opponent. Face it dude, he may look shy and timid, but when it comes to dueling, he reads his opponent like an open book. Think… Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! Only for Duel Masters."

"Well then, Tell me: did you see this one coming?" Robbie drew and set mana. "I summon Prickleback and evolve it into Flamespike Tatsurion!" he set Prickleback into the battle zone and threw the evolution creature on top of it.

A Green tornado stirred up within the K-terminal as the spiked Tatsurion broke from it, its body a light purple and red color, its spikes tipped with flames.

"Let's see your toy ship block this!" Robbie tapped Flamespike. "Double Break!"

Flame spike roared with all of it's might, curling itself into a flaming spike ball that shattered two of Maxi's shields.

"What's the matter? Not going to block?" Robbie arrogantly stated.

"Shield Blast: Helios Rings: I tap Bestial Rage and Sabertooth." Maxi revealed.

From the shield shards two rings, a red one and a blue one materialized and encircled the two creatures, binding them where they stood. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't break free.

"There's no way…"

"Figured you'd blindly attack me." Maxi said. "Thanks, you actually gave me the card I need to finish this."

"You punk…" Robbie snarled.

Maxi drew and set mana, revealing his remaining two cards. "Chasm, Sprite, Evolve into Sparkblade Protector and Emperor Neuron respectively!"

Robbie was taken aback. "Two evolution Creatures?!"

"And to add insult to injury, Sparky's a double breaker."

Chasm wrapped its tentacles around the crystal as it evolved into an orange and white robotic-like creature, electricity connecting its spinning blade-like hands to the main body. It hovered with thruster-like feet next to the newly evolved Neuron.

"Spark, Double Break! Neuron Finish it, Todomeda!"

Spark and Neuron flew forward as Sparkblade unleashed its discs, shattering the final two shields, followed by Neuron smashing Robbie's side of the field, thus ending the duel.

"WINNER: WIZ KID!" The display showed as Robbie and Maxi collected their decks.

"Good Game." Maxi smiled, holding his hand out.

Robbie looked up, annoyed that he was out played so easily. "What was that shield?"

Maxi smiled and revealed the front of the deck. "Reef Prince-Glu-urrgle. At the time I sent it to shields because that would've messed up my whole strategy with predict. Had you going didn't I?"

"I see… I must say, you guys are better than I gave you credit for."

"Deal's a deal dude." Kyle chimed in. "Now then, for my request…"

Robbie nodded. "That's right."

"I want you to join our team."

"No thanks, I already am part of a team." Robbie rejected easily.

"Wha—oh come on bro!" Kyle said disappointed. "You'll be close to Kim this way."

"Do you ever shut up?!" Kim yelled at him pushing I'm away.

"That's fine, but I can't just leave my team. Call it an honor thing. Besides, I'd like to see how much more you guys grow. That way, we'll meet once again in the D-Fighter's tournament."

"Is that a challenge?" Kyle asked him.

"As always, Kyle-kun. I will give you this though. After all, a bet's a bet. Good luck on your new deck, I'm sure this guy will come in handy." Robbie reached into his pocket and tossed the card to him. "See you guys around…"

And with that, Robbie walked out of the store, leaving the quartet of Team VD staring at the card that Kyle acquired.

"This card…" Kyle was left speechless. "Evo-Fury Tatsurion…"

Kyle looked back up, watching Robbie through the window. Robbie turned his head and nodded, before continuing to walk off.

"Guys… Let's get to work." Kyle said with the upmost confidence…


End file.
